Europe's digital transition is starting to bear fruits. Europe's economic landscape is becoming increasingly digital, with sectors like information and communication technology (ICT) capturing a growing share of EU GDP. This Policy Brief examines the impact of these economic shifts on Europe's...

The past few years have been marked by major crises, including the covid pandemic and the Russian attack on Ukraine. These crises have consequences. The new European Commission will need a well thought-out economic policy agenda to respond to the changed geopolitical challenges and to strengthen...

The global economic environment has changed fundamentally over the past decade. Growing protectionism and geoeconomic tensions pose a major challenge, especially for the EU, whose foundations are based on openness, multilateralism, and cooperation. This policy brief presents four basic...

Trade policy is usually defined by the kinds of deals it can strike. Typically, the attention is focussed either on big multilateral trade rounds or on bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). This policy brief goes beyond the conventional wisdom and sheds light on other trade agreements (trade...

Wirtschaftlicher Zwang ist ein Mittel der Außenpolitik, welches in einem internationalen Umfeld, das geprägt ist von geopolitischen Spannungen und der Instrumentalisierung des Handels als Waffe, immer mehr an Bedeutung gewinnt. Solche Maßnahmen stellen auch für die EU ein zunehmendes Problem...

This is the third consolidated annual report on trade implementation and enforcement actions to ensure implementation and enforcement of multilateral commitments (WTO) and commitments enshrined in preferential bilateral trade agreements. It provides an overview of the main activities and...

This is the third consolidated annual report on trade implementation and enforcement actions to ensure implementation and enforcement of multilateral commitments (WTO) and commitments enshrined in preferential bilateral trade agreements. It provides an overview of the main activities and...

Recent events and rising geopolitical tensions have raised concerns about the external dependence and vulnerability of Europe’s economy. Decision-makers need to rethink the playing field of geoeconomics and should be prepared for different trade policy scenarios that may arise from new...

The EU must embrace international cooperation and collaboration in technology-driven industries to ensure competitiveness and global relevance, while also considering the drawbacks of isolationist policies. The EU's commitment to open markets and global cooperation has historically been its...

Last year, a total of 1,700 new protectionist measures were introduced around the world. This marks a new record. Even before the war in the Ukraine, political disputes were increasingly handled using economic sanctions - an approach which leads to high economic costs. Family companies in...

This study undertakes a comprehensive review of proposed and adopted defensive trade policy instruments in the EU, with the purpose of better understanding their design, functioning, and implications. The study covers eight policy instruments at different stages of development. These are:...

The European Union (EU) supports developing countries with a unilateral trade preference scheme. The scheme underwent a major reform in 2014, in which many countries lost access to reduced tariff rates. We analyse how this radical step that removed preferences from 103 countries by 2018 fits...

Im Rahmen des Green Deal erwägt die EU die Einführung eines CO2-Grenzausgleichsmechanismus (CBAM) für Importe, damit sie ihre ehrgeizigen klimapolitischen Ziele erreichen kann, ohne dass energieintensive Sektoren ihre Emissionen ins Ausland verlagern (Carbon Leakage). Der CBAM sieht die...

With Joe Biden’s victory, there is at least a four-year window to revive ‘an alliance of democracies’, face up to authoritarian powers and closed economies that exploit the openness on which American and European societies are built, and shape those parts of multilateralism that serve...

This Policy Brief takes stock of the EU Trade Policy Review - the Commission's proposed strategy for trade. Despite appearances, the Review doesn't come close to its billing as a strategy for the new geopolitics of trade. In fact, the Review is weak on key geopolitical developments and rather...

"Is the EU a force of convergence in the world? Standardizing the World offers a comprehensive assessment of the EU's efforts to standardize a wide array of economic, political, and social aspects of life through its trade agreements across the globe. A group of leading experts offers analyses...

The European Commission presented its Open, Sustainable, and Assertive (OSA) trade policy strategy in early 2021, heralding the document as representing a new and strategic approach to countering dependency and strengthening resiliency. We analyse the OSA through policy paradigms, making two...

“Trade saves lives” could have been the headline. COVID-19 hit so hard, quickly and across so many nations at the same time, that many countries not only rushed to produce and import, but also imposed export restrictions on protective masks, ventilators and other products they were running...