Preferences about Preferences: Uncovering the Forces That Generate EU Trade Preference Schemes

National trade preference schemes are an integral component of North-South trade relations. Yet the varying degree of trade liberalization across different preference schemes is considerable, especially in the case of the EU. This thesis attempts to find what factors can account for the differing amount of trade liberalization between the EU's trade preference schemes. To do this, both process tracing and the congruence method are used to analyze two different instances of European trade and development policy--the EU's 2012 revision of GSP and the EU's Economic Partnership Agreement with the Caribbean. I find the liberalization of EU trade preferences is driven primarily by three factors: (1) Domestic commercial interests; (2) EU concerns about global economic competitiveness; and (3) Desires for WTO compatibility. I also find NGOs to represent the main opposition for the EU's current trade and development agenda rather than import-competing sectors as "conventional" trade theory would predict.