Overview
The Financial Times featured David O'Sullivan, former head of the EU's trade directorate and then its ambassador to Washington, in a question-and-answer interview in the November 23 "Trade Secrets" column by Alan Beattie.
In discussing what's changed most in EU trade policy since he was at the directorate, O'Sullivan commented: "The single biggest change is the shift from the multilateral to the bilateral or regional approach. The failure to agree a new multilateral deal in the WTO was a major setback for which we are all still paying the price. The EU reluctantly fell back on bilateral trade deals as a second-best option and is now at the center of the largest network of free trade agreements ever seen, including the granting of unprecedented access to our markets for the least developed countries. Europe has thus been the greatest driver of trade liberalization in recent years. The EU, nonetheless, remains firmly committed to resuscitating the role of the WTO."
The full article can be read at Financial Times (subscription required).