Upping the Ante: The Movement of Natural Persons (Mode 4) and Non-Services Migration in EU and Asian PTAs

A cross-comparative mapping of the provisions on the temporary movement of natural persons (Mode 4, M4) Mode 4 (M4) with the non-services mobility provisions in select Asian (ChAFTA, India-Singapore PTA, EUSFTA, India-ASEAN) and EU PTAs towards non-Asian partners (CARIFORUM EPA, C&P FTA, Georgia DFTA) reveals that PTAs have advanced in GATS-plus and GATS-extra, but just how proximate the links between ‘migration’ and GATS Mode 4 mobility are, differs. In this chapter, we draw on the analytical fame of the migration-mobility nexus (MMN), being developed by nccr-on-the-move research network to better categorize the proximity and permeability between migration and mobility and the directionality of the links between both concepts between migration and mobility. We first observe that the EU and Asian countries make different use of M4 commitments in their PTAs. Common to both world regions is the trend to add the category of graduate trainees (GT) as a horizontal commitment in a M4 opening in a trade agreement, as well as opening that category of cross-border mobility in a bilateral setting. In this first section, we seek to understand why the migration and mobility narratives overlap, compete or conflict in a linear dimension of the MMN, within a PTA and across the PTA and bilateral migration agreements. In a second step, the MMN is conceived ‘as continuum’ on the vertical scale to explain how M4 chapters of PTAs are implemented differently in national immigration and regional integration labor migration norms, e.g. EU labor market directives: The EU makes liberalization advances preferably via horizontal, rather than sectoral commitments, countries or regions that are less multilevel opt for sectoral advances in M4. M4 develops GATS-plus sectorally in Asian PTAs, where e.g. a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) professional sees her immigrant status directly regulated in a side letter attached to the PTA. In sum, the chapter offers some new evidence from the field of international trade, to contribute to further designing the interdisciplinary concept of the MMN. While the focus study builds on the corpus of legal and IR research on GATS M4, this chapter suggests to deepening the theoretical deliverables of the GATS M4 literature by anchoring the evidence from PTAs into the analytical frame of the MMN.