Political Transfer and "Trading Up"? Transatlantic Trade in Genetically Modified Food and U.S. Politics

Although there is a popular perception that trade liberalization undermines domestic regulation, under certain circumstances international trade can provide a catalyst for making domestic regulations more stringent. This article makes a case extending the applicability of the so-called trading-up thesis by finding evidence of change within the United States in response to the transatlantic trade dispute over genetically modified food. In particular, it argues that political transfer--the transfer of political concern from one jurisdiction to political mobilization in another--can prompt policy change even in the absence of the adoption of foreign standards by domestic firms.