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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 25:3 (2026) ► pp.405–429

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‘We’re saying that we trust them but really we don’t’

Citizen jurors’ discursive framing of trust in international trade policy

ORCiD logo with link | University of Sussex
ORCiD logo with link | University of Sussex
ORCiD logo with link | University of Sussex
ORCiD logo with link | University of Sussex
ORCiD logo with link | University of Sussex
Published online: 29 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.24178.rob
Abstract
One key consequence of the UK leaving the EU (Brexit) is that it now has full responsibility for making its own international trade policy. In this context, NatCen and the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy initiated Citizens’ Juries on the topic of trade policy. From the transcripts of these juries, we created a corpus of 317,974 words. Using corpus-assisted discourse analysis, we focus on the concept of trust in trade policy. We find that trust conferred on actors in trade policy is limited. The greatest degree of trust is conferred on experts, on account of their epistemically-elevated position. The government is broadly not trusted. Jurors wished to be consulted about trade policy decisions and be assured that they are based on sound advice, but few wished to have a role in actually making them. Our findings highlight a deficit of trust among the jurors that could be remedied by greater perceived honesty and transparency from the government.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1The lack of trust
    • 3.2Experts
    • 3.3Public
    • 3.4Informing versus deciding
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (31)
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