Trade agreements provide a stable and predictable framework for economic transactions, help secure access to inputs, and facilitate market access for goods, services, investment and public procurement. They support economic growth, help generate employment and improve productivity, provide the public sector and businesses with access to innovation and technology, and offer consumers a broader range of goods and services. In a complex economic environment, trade agreements help diversify networks of suppliers and buyers, thereby enhancing supply chain resilience. Those more comprehensive ones also include provisions in other areas, such as intellectual property rights protection.

Moreover, over the last two decades, trade agreements have been increasingly considered as one of the policy measures which, if designed and implemented correctly, can support the Parties’ sustainable development in its three dimensions, i.e. economic growth, social development and environmental protection, and contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. To strengthen this positive effect and to ensure a level playing field in trade relations, several Parties have begun to include labour provisions in their Free Trade Agreements, or accompanying documents. According to the ILO Labour Provisions in Trade Agreements Hub,1 in February 2026, one-third (132 of 383) of trade agreements notified to the World Trade Organisation included labour provisions.