International trade in animal products creates opportunities to require welfare standards as conditions of market access; understanding trade leverage for welfare improvement identifies high-impact advocacy opportunities.
International trade creates both welfare challenges and welfare opportunities. The challenge is that higher welfare production in one market can be undercut by imports from countries with lower welfare standards, creating competitive disadvantage for welfare-conscious producers and potential welfare regression as production shifts to lower-standard locations. The opportunity is that market access conditions can require welfare standards as a condition of entry, extending welfare improvements beyond national borders to all producers seeking access to major markets. EU and UK trade policy that conditions market access on equivalent welfare standards represents the most powerful available tool for global welfare improvement, but requires political will and careful legal construction to be effective.