Browsing by Subject "industrial policy"

Motivated by the polycrisis that the neoliberal global governance is facing, geopolitics and geoeconomics have taken a strong hold on trade and industrial policy in the race for critical raw materials required for the green and digital transition. In this context, the European Commission has introduced a plethora of instruments under its 2021 Trade Policy Review framework seeking to level the playing field with its strategic competitors and thus achieve open strategic autonomy in global value chains to reach its objectives in reciprocity, sustainability, and security. While a significant focus remains in examination of the initiative of enhanced coordination between export credit and development finance, the paper sheds light on other trade and industrial policy instruments as well. The paper argues that the toolkit influenced by the concept of open strategic autonomy could go against the EU's constitutional norms of international cooperation, trade liberalisation, and international law, as enshrined in Art. 3(5) and Art. 21 TEU. Simulatenously, while engaging with international political economy scholarship, it pits this development against the disintegrating phenomenon of 'slowbalisation', arguing that this could have a protectionist, 'race to the bottom' effect on free trade and multilateral trade governance as a whole.