The Law and Politics of Brexit, Volume V: The Trade and Cooperation Agreement

The Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is the treaty which regulates free trade and economic arrangements between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) post-Brexit. The treaty entered into force provisionally on 1 January 2021 and officially on 1 May 2021, and has governed trade relations between the parties since.

This book brings together contributions by leading scholars in EU and international trade law, economics and political science to provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of the TCA. It contextualizes the treaty and identifies several emerging political, economic, and security challenges, which serve as the background to evolving EU-UK relations. The book also unpacks the treaty's complex provisions on customs and rules of origin, investments, services and procurement, subsidies, fisheries, aviation, cooperation on energy, environment, health, social security, and on UK participation in EU programs. Furthermore, it provides an updated assessment of EU-UK disagreement on the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/NI, and considers the positive impact of the Windsor Framework in rebuilding trust between the parties, and the possibilities to further expand EU-UK cooperation within the TCA and beyond.