Laura Baughman, President of The Trade Partnership, provides a detailed analysis of the U.S. preference program and offers recommendations to EU policy makers as they consider how implementing the Treaty of Lisbon will work in practice on trade matters. Among other changes, the Lisbon Treaty gives the European Parliament the power to approve or reject trade policy decisions. These changes may bring the European trade policy process closer to the highly political American model, where Congress drafts and regularly changes the details of U.S. trade preference programs.

The report, prepared for The German Marshall Fund, can be downloaded here.