IEP: The Future of EU Trade Policy in a post-COVID-19 World

15. Juli 2020 14:30 Uhr
IEP Digitales Mittagsgespräch

Guest:
Dr. Sabine Weyand, Director-General, DG Trade, European Commission, Brussles
Words of Welcome:
Jörg Wojahn, Head of Representation, European Commission Representative Office in Berlin
Moderation:
Dr. Funda Tekin, Director, Institut für Europäische Politik, Berlin

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it. The pandemic caused the largest global recession in history, with more than a third of the global population being placed on lockdown. It has also laid bare the vulnerabilities of globalized supply chains and has the potential to accelerate de-globalization trends. Indeed, if handling the coronavirus crisis was not enough for all countries to be getting on with, another tremendous challenge awaits: the threat of economic coercion from both the US and China, as competition between the two great powers escalates.

The EU is increasingly in the crossfire between the two competing powers and is being forced to rethink its strategic outlook. On the one hand, the bloc considers itself to be a champion of free trade and has therefore increased its effort to sign free-trade agreements with like-minded countries, such as Canada and Japan. On the other hand, the EU has introduced new foreign investment screening regulations and only recently presented a proposal to address the distortive effects caused by foreign subsidies in the Single Market. These efforts are primarily aimed against Chinese commercial expansion and thus part of a balancing act that echoes U.S. concerns about China’s geo-economic ambitions while trying to stay within the WTO framework.

As an expert, we welcome Dr. Sabine Weyand, Director-General of the DG for Trade of the European Commission. She has played a prominent role in trade negotiations and in EU-Brexit negotiations.

Registration:

To take part in the event, please register here until 13.07.2020.

More information about the event you can find here.

Technical Information:
This is a digital event. It will take place using the video conferencing platform Zoom.
After your registration and prior to the event you will receive all access information as well as technical information for participating. We intend to send the link one day prior to the event.

For participation you need a computer, tablet or other smart device with internet connection and speakers. You enter the conference through a link that will open the Zoom app. It is recommended to download the application. This will only take a minute and is free of charge. Alternatively you can also join through your internet Browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge) although you might encounter only limited functionality.

If you have questions concerning the technical support, please contact Simone Klee (simone.klee@iep-berlin.de)