Trade policy governance: What health policymakers and advocates need to know

•Trade policies affect the options and resources available to health policymakers.•Increased transparency in trade policymaking benefits the health sector.•Accountability to health ministries improves the health effects of trade policymaking.•Participation in trade policymaking by health interests should be encouraged.•Trade policies are complex, requiring considerable policy capacity to influence. Trade policies affect determinants of health as well as the options and resources available to health policymakers. There is therefore a need for health policymakers and related stakeholders in all contexts to understand and connect with the trade policymaking process. This paper uses the TAPIC (transparency, accountability, participation, integrity, capacity) governance framework to analyze how trade policy is commonly governed. I conclude that the health sector is likely to benefit when transparency in trade policymaking is increased, since trade negotiations to date have often left out health advocates and policymakers. Trade policymakers and negotiators also tend to be accountable to economic and trade ministries, which are in turn accountable to economic and business interests. Neither tend to appreciate the health consequences of trade and trade policies. Greater accountability to health ministries and interests, and greater participation by them, could improve the health effects of trade negotiations. Trade policies are complex, requiring considerable policy capacity to understand and influence. Nevertheless, investing in understanding trade can pay off in terms of managing future legal risks.