The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the West African region and the European Union (EU) has its legal framework in Cotonou Agreement (2000) to make it compatible with the guidelines given by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO sought to standardize trade agreements at the global level and called for the repeal of any kind of unilateral preferences. At first glance, what may seem entirely logical, however, ignores the reality of developing countries, the abuse of power by economic powers, and a hidden agenda of Western countries to preserve their control over such countries by maintaining structures of dependence. In the case of the West African region (ECOWAS) these circumstances have been a constant over the last few years and the EU has pressured West Africa to accept these agreements, underestimating the warnings from experts from both continents that it will destroy the emerging industry in West Africa that will not be able to compete with European products.
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