The politicisation of transatlantic
trade in Europe: Explaining
inconsistent preferences regarding
free trade and the TTIP. LEQS Paper No. 151/2019
January 2020
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) generated an
unprecedented public contestation across Europe. In this paper, we focus on the
sources of such backlash in European public opinion. Previous studies of this issue
have analysed opinions on free trade and the specific agreement separately. However,
not accounting for their correlated character could lead to biased conclusions about
their determinants. To address this, we apply an innovative empirical approach and
construct a set of bivariate probit models to calculate joint probabilities for the different
configurations of support and opposition. We validate that attitudes toward free trade
and the TTIP have similar but not identical foundations. Inconsistent preferences are
rooted in individual values, EU attitudes, and political cues, as well as treaty partner
heuristics. Our innovative empirical approach offers an improved understanding of
trade attitudes within EU’s multilevel context
