["JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Volume 64, Issue 3, Page 1113-1134, May 2026. ", "\nAbstract\nDrawing on Laclau and Mouffe's poststructuralist discourse theory, this article critically examines the von der Leyen Commission's agricultural trade policy under the European Green Deal. It elucidates the shift from a dominant neoliberal trade logic to open strategic autonomy, positioning agricultural trade as a foreign policy instrument. The article argues that the Commission has inverted the logic of justification by prioritising environmental sustainability and strategically deploying the discursive strategy of environmental othering. Whilst economic growth remains central to internal justifications, it is strategically excluded from external discourse. Instead, external justification relies on legal framing and the portrayal of the environmental crisis as a universally acknowledged but manageable threat. The article concludes that the EU's revised approach risks accelerating global fragmentation and fostering a trend towards rising unilateralism.\n"]