International trade in agricultural products creates welfare risks when high-welfare domestic producers compete against lower-welfare imports — making trade policy a significant lever for global animal welfare improvement.
Trade policy is a welfare leverage point that has received insufficient attention relative to domestic regulation. If the EU bans battery cages but imports battery cage eggs from third countries, it has partially externalized the welfare harm rather than eliminated it. Meaningful global welfare improvement requires trade measures that internalize welfare costs — requiring imported products to meet equivalent welfare standards, or applying border adjustment mechanisms that prevent welfare-standard arbitrage. The political complexity is real, but the welfare argument for welfare-equivalent trade standards is compelling: global production determines global animal welfare outcomes, and domestic standards alone are insufficient.