‘A Force for Good’: The Narrative Construction of Ethical EU–Vietnam Trade Relations

Abstract

Political representation of problems includes an aim to control an audience's impressions and create a societally‐acceptable social reality. This paper analyses the narrative construction of ethical trade between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam. As an undemocratic Other, Vietnam has been sharply criticized for its human rights record by civil society and Members of European Parliament. Yet, the EU recently concluded two trade agreements with Vietnam. We argue that, unchallenged by the European Parliament, the European Commission created a performative 'story of change' for its European audience by simultaneously appealing to underlying 'neoliberal' and 'development' paradigms. In this narrative, the EU and Vietnam star as the main characters, who, in their joint attempts to make bilateral trade 'a force for good', live moments of heroism, encounter fleeting instances of victimhood, and defeat villains on the path to ethical trade.

Decolonising EU Trade Relations with the Global Souths?

“…This approach stresses the need for shifting agencies, pitched against the growing 'normativisation' of EU trade policy without necessarily engaging the interpretations of those subjected to it extra-EU. Interpreting the narrative construction of 'ethical' trade between the EU and Vietnam, for instance, aligns with this approach (Nessel & Verhaeghe 2022). Secondly, a post-structuralist critique questions wellestablished constructions between structure and agency reflected in hegemonic discourses on EU trade policy, for example, by denaturalising notions such as 'free trade' and 'protection' (Jacobs & Orbie 2020).…”