On Trade Liberalisation for Political Ends: the case of the Eurasian Economic Union

As evidenced by WTO theory and practice, even as exceptions regulated at Article XXIV GATT 1994 and Article V GATS, regional trade agreements (RTAs) or preferential trade agreements are an important legal tool to liberalize trade and strengthen economic or political cooperation. In recent years, notwithstanding the fiasco of TTIP and TPP, RTAs have proliferated in different regions of the world. Among them, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a customs union established in 2015 which is institutionally similar to the European Union albeit unexplored in academic literature. Remarkably, during its first five years of existence as an international organization, the EAEU has become a trade entity capable of adopting common technical regulations and a uniform customs code regulating cross-border trade in the internal single market and with third parties. Moreover, the EAEU has been quite active in concluding international agreements with third States, setting the basis to make the EAEU a key player on the global arena. Is the EAEU an RTA with the purpose to liberalise trade and services, mindful of the WTO philosophy, or rather is it a mean to attract back in the Moscow’s orbit some of the Post-Soviet States thus reaching precise geopolitical ends? What is its relevance for international business?