Privatizing Commercial Diplomacy … 2

In the United States and the European Union, important aspects of commercial diplomacy are undergoing a gradual process of privatization. New institutional arrangements permit private groups (predominantly industry associations and firms) to petition for the initiation of trade disputes, propose agenda items for multilateral negotiations in the World Trade Organization, and even conduct negotiations on regulatory reform outside the customary state-to-state channels. These institutional innovations—the United States' Section 301, the European Union's Trade Barriers Regulation, formal and informal consultation processes surrounding WTO negotiations, and the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue—are not neutral in the domestic-level competition over protection and free trade. They are mechanisms that empower exporters alone, and not all equally. While reshaping the international politics of trade policy, the movement toward privatizing commercial diplomacy raises questions about states ' allocation of influence among competing interest groups, industries, and social classes. We examine these institutional developments, focusing on their origins, their pattern of use by broad industr