The California effect in the EC’s external relations: a comparison of the leghold trap and beef-hormone issues between the EC and the U.S. and Canada

Abstract

The central question of this paper is: What factors contribute to the success and failure of the European Community in imposing its standards upon the United States and Canada through international trade measures? I will answer this question by studying two cases: one in which the EC succeeded (to some extent) in imposing stricter standards upon the US and Canada, and one in which the EC attempted but failed to influence American and Canadian standards. As a “successful” case I have studied the EC ban on the use of leghold traps in trapping fur-bearing animals; the “unsuccessful” case is the EC ban on the use of growth promoting hormones in meat production.