Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are deals between two or more trading partners. Unlike multilateral trade agreements, PTAs give states the latitude to pursue policy goals not traditionally part of trade infrastructure. This Note explores the possibility of PTAs as a form of transitional justice: the processes, mechanisms, and institutions that help post-conflict communities transition away from the legacies of human rights atrocities and toward more equitable, peaceful societal structures. This Note asks whether PTAs can speak to the needs of post-conflict communities in an era when scholars and practitioners are pushing the boundaries of trade and transitional justice alike.

Although PTAs are increasingly used to facilitate connections between trade and human rights, much of their potential remains untapped. Despite their popularity, PTAs are not incorporated into transitional justice efforts. However, the economic strengths and coercive elements in PTAs could fill gaps typically seen in traditional transitional justice efforts. Less certain is how to design and implement PTAs such that they benefit survivors of human rights atrocities.

Part II of this Note explores how PTAs may be “deepened” to address human rights issues and other non-trade objectives. Part III delineates the settings for and forms of transitional justice, noting where existing processes, mechanisms, and institutions fall short. Part IV fuses these elements, arguing that PTAs’ resource-rich and coercive qualities justify their introduction into transitional justice frameworks. It further argues that PTAs can be framed in two ways relevant to transitional justice: as a means of integrating human rights into trade, and as an alternative means of state power. Part IV then suggests facilitating a trade-transitional justice merger through three means: negotiations, policymaking, and economics. Finally, Part V considers case studies in Ukraine and Iraq to illustrate how PTAs could function as transitional justice.

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