Our understanding of the role of firms in the making of European Union (EU) trade policy remains partial. This article contributes to expanding this literature by investigating under what conditions we observe more firm-centric lobbying, compared to business associational lobbying, in EU trade policy. We advance the arguments that firm-centric political lobbying in EU trade policy-making is a function of both industry and country-level characteristics. Relying on an original dataset of lobbying contacts with the EU Trade Commissioner, his or her cabinet members and the Director-General between 2014 and 2018, we find that the likelihood of firm-centric lobbying increases in (1) EU industries displaying high levels of multinational corporations' activity, global sourcing of intermediates and product differentiation and (2) countries characterized as liberal market economies. Besides showing that firm-centric models of trade travel well in the EU context, we contribute to advancing the understanding of how domestic political institutions affect the politics of trade.

中文翻译：

---

欧盟的企业和贸易政策游说

我们对企业在欧盟 (EU) 贸易政策制定中的作用的理解仍然片面。本文通过调查在什么条件下我们在欧盟贸易政策中观察到更多以企业为中心的游说（与商业协会游说相比），有助于扩大这一文献。我们提出这样的论点：欧盟贸易政策制定中以企业为中心的政治游说是行业和国家层面特征的函数。根据 2014 年至 2018 年间与欧盟贸易专员、其内阁成员和总干事进行游说接触的原始数据集，我们发现，在 (1) 表现出高水平的欧盟行业中，以企业为中心的游说可能性有所增加。跨国公司的活动、中间体的全球采购和产品差异化以及（2）以自由市场经济为特征的国家。除了表明以企业为中心的贸易模式在欧盟背景下运作良好之外，我们还有助于加深对国内政治制度如何影响贸易政治的理解。