Advanced trade policy analysis reveals how international trade agreements can either undermine or reinforce domestic pig welfare standards. Welfare conditionality in trade agreements is an emerging policy tool.
Trade policy is an underutilised lever for pig welfare improvement. Import restrictions based on welfare grounds are legally complex under WTO rules but bilateral trade agreements increasingly include welfare provisions. The welfare implications of importing lower welfare pork are significant for global pig welfare: creating market demand for high-welfare domestic production while potentially displacing lower welfare production.