Trade in the Service of Society? Introducing the Trade Packaging Database

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) increasingly address societal concerns such as labor standards, environmental protection, and gender equality. At the same time, governments adopt domestic policies to mitigate the potential negative spillovers of trade liberalization. Yet systematic data capturing both treaty provisions and the measures that accompany PTAs remains limited. This article introduces the Trade Packaging (TraPa) Database, a new dataset that documents both dimensions of contemporary trade governance. The database codes labor-, environment-, and gender related provisions in 161 PTAs concluded between 1990 and 2022 by Brazil, the European Free Trade Association, the European Union, India, the United Kingdom (post-Brexit), and the United States, and links them to 230 domestic measures addressing the societal concerns with trade liberalization. By connecting treaty design to domestic regulatory frameworks, the dataset enables the study of PTAs as broader regulatory packages that combine market access commitments with policies aimed at managing their social and environmental consequences.

About the speakers

Charlotte Sieber-Gasser is a legal scholar working at the intersection of international public law, constitutional law, and legal theory. Her research examines how globalisation reshapes legal systems and challenges democratic legitimacy. Her PhD at the World Trade Institute analysed South-South trade agreements in services under WTO law, while her Habilitation focuses on the structural transformation of the Swiss legal order through internationalisation.

Noémie Laurens is a postdoctoral researcher in International Relations at the Geneva Graduate Institute, an Earth Negotiations Bulletin writer, and the book review editor of the Earth System Governance Journal. Her research deals with when, why, and how environmental treaties evolve and the nexus between trade and environmental politics.