EU to strengthen trade defence against foreign coercion
Valdis Dombrovskis - Photo © European Union 2021
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union announced plans Wednesday to counter the deliberate use of economic coercion by third countries with a set of tools to strengthen trade defence against such pressure.
The aim is to deter countries from restricting or threatening to restrict trade or investment to bring about a change of policy in the EU in areas such as climate change, taxation or food safety.
"At a time of rising geopolitical tensions, trade is increasingly being weaponised and the EU and its Member States becoming targets of economic intimidation," said EC Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis: "With this proposal we are sending a clear message that the EU will stand firm in defending its interests. The main aim of the anti-coercion tool is to act as a deterrent. But we now also have more tools at our disposal when pushed to act. This instrument will allow us to respond to the geopolitical challenges of the coming decades, keeping Europe strong and agile."
The anti-coercion instrument is designed to de-escalate and induce discontinuation of specific coercive measures through dialogue as a first step.
The EU executive stresses that any countermeasures taken by the EU would be applied only as a last resort 'when there is no other way to address economic intimidation, which can take many forms.'
These range from countries using explicit coercion and trade defence tools against the EU, to selective border or food safety checks on goods from a given EU country, to boycotts of goods of certain origin. The aim is to preserve the EU and the Member States' legitimate right to make policy choices and decisions and prevent serious interference in the sovereignty of the EU or its Member States.
The Commission says the EU will engage directly with the country concerned to stop the economic intimidation. If the economic intimidation does not stop immediately, the new instrument will allow the EU to react swiftly and effectively, providing a tailor-made and proportional response for each situation from imposing tariffs and restricting imports from the country in question, to restrictions on services or investment or steps to limit the country's access to the EU's internal market.
The proposal now needs to be discussed and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
Anti-Coercion Instrument - background guide