Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/266582 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
SWP Comment No. 59/2022
Publisher: 
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin
Abstract: 
Europe's trade policy is heading for a sea change. But it is not Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine that is the main reason for this development. Rather, there are long-term influencing factors at work here: the WTO-centred multilateral trade order is visibly eroding. Protectionism is on the rise around the globe. World trade is growing only marginally or is even stagnating. Globalization is undergoing a transformation whose outcome is uncertain. And international trade is increasingly being instrumentalized for political purposes. In February 2021, the European Commission responded to these structural upheavals by announcing an "open, sustainable and assertive trade policy". However, there has so far been uneven progress towards implementing the objectives included in the new trade policy strategy. While the EU's intention to strengthen both Europe's assertiveness and the sustainability of trade is being realized through numerous new instruments and measures, its promise of openness and liberalization remains unfulfilled for the time being. In particular, the Indo-Pacific region beyond China would offer the German and European economies significant opportunities to tap new sources of raw materials and access reliable supplier networks and growing sales markets.
Subjects: 
EU trade policy
Putin
aggression against Ukraine
protectionism
WTO
China
Taiwan crisis
Australia
New Zealand
India
Indo-Pacific
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Research Report

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