ECIPE - European Centre for International Political Economy

Europe in the Age of Asia

Throughout June you will notice that ECIPE has stepped into the Age of Asia, this time to find out how Europe is responding to what has been called one of the greatest economic power shifts ever in history. We kicked off our Asia month with a new paper on China by Guy de Jonquiéres, which throws doubts on the notion that China has already become a super power. And on June 5 we will host our first Asia event this month to discuss EU-Asia relations amid the Eurozone crisis.

In focus

High-level Transatlantic Task Force calls for a New Era of Transatlantic Trade Leadership

In a new report, the Transatlantic Task Force on Trade and Investment - a major ECIPE and GMF initiative - calls for the creation of a barrier–free transatlantic market as part of an new, ambitious and realistic U.S.–EU trade and investment agenda to promote economic growth, jobs and economic development. Deeper bilateral transatlantic economic integration would boost recovery from the current economic crisis and help to stabilize debts and deficits on both sides of the Atlantic. It would also be a platform from which the EU and the U.S. could lead new initiatives to kick-start global trade liberalization and strengthen the multilateral trading system. The Task Force calls for new plurilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organisation and renewed efforts to improve global investment policy.

Icarus, Sisyphus and EU-China Relations

The good news about EU-China trade relations, says Fredrik Erixon in a new paper, is that they are too big to fail. The bad news is that there is little else that keeps the relation in balance. Frustration is reaching a boiling point. Erixon argues that while China’s approach to Europe increasingly reads like the story of Icarus, Europe’s position towards China resembles Sisyphus repetitious struggle to role a boulder to the top of a hill. Several attempts to cajole China into opening its market to EU firms have had little payoff.

Is there a case for a services plurilateral?

Services liberalisation has perhaps suffered from the deadlock in the WTO more than any other area of trade. As the discussions of a potential plurilateral agreement continue in Geneva, more questions are raised than answered. In a new policy brief by Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, the gains from liberalising amongst the developed economies are compared to the costs of leaving the trade barriers in the emerging economies unaddressed. As the EU is midst of concluding FTAs with India and Mercosur, there is only a white spot on the map: China.

Is the European car crisis blocking free trade agreements?

The crisis has deeply divided the European car manufacturing. While the majority of the sector consists of highly successful exporters that are reporting record profits, a small portion is suffering from inefficiencies, permanent overcapacities and held afloat by bailouts. In 2010, troubled car manufacturers lobbied for a last-minute veto against the EU-Korea FTA. As the European Commission is now about to ask for a mandate to open negotiations with Japan, similar concerns over cars are repeated about a FTA that would be the first amongst world's top 5 economies. A new ECIPE report by Hosuk Lee-Makiyama shows how the EU, torn between demands for market access abroad and protection at home, finds it increasingly difficult to deliver trade agreements with large-sized economies that would have a meaningful impact on EU growth.

Avoiding a Biofuels Trade Dispute

The EU has set out new sustainability criteria for biofuels that soon will kick in. While it is reasonable for the EU to improve environmental standards for fuels, says Fredrik Erixon in a new paper, its policy looks similar to green protectionism and will most likely end up in a trade dispute with Latin America, Southeast Asia and the US. The Renewable Energy Directive fails to hide the ambition to boost local biofuels at the expense of foreign production. And if import will be discriminated against, the EU will violate core trade rules.

Latest Publications

ECIPE Policy Brief No. 04/2012
What power shift to China?
By Guy de Jonquières
Summary | Download (PDF)

ECIPE Bulletin No. 04/2012
How can Greece leave the Euro?
By George Magnus
Summary | Download (PDF)

ECIPE Bulletin No. 03/2012
Trade and Development at the crossroads?
By Roderick Abbott
Summary | Download (PDF)

ECIPE Bulletin No. 02/2012
Please Make Spain Austere, But Not Just Yet!
By Fredrik Erixon
Summary | Download (PDF)

ECIPE Bulletin No. 01/2012
Who should Lead the World Bank?
By Fredrik Erixon
Summary | Download (PDF)

Upcoming Events

2012-06-04
ECIPE Roundtable: Global Business and the Future of Trade Policy
Trade liberalisation in the post-war era was to a large extent driven by mercantilist instincts. A provocative observation for a free-trade purist, perhaps. Nonetheless, successful forms of negotiated trade liberalisation were based on an exchange of “concessions”, or reciprocated market access for exporters. The modern world economy, however, does not operate in accordance with the mercantilist textbook. The past decades of globalising supply chains have made it difficult to distinguish the national identity of a product and what exactly represents an export gain.
Speakers: Ari van Assche, Per Altenberg, Fredrik Erixon, Razeen Sally
More information

2012-06-05
ECIPE Conference: Whither Europe-Asia Trade and Economic Relations?
It is said that we live in the Age of Asia. And it is in many ways true. With weak growth in Europe and the U.S., the world economy is increasingly relying on the continental economic awakening in Asia to continue. Yet rapid changes in the world economy, and the structure of world economic power, seldom take place without political friction. Managing a country’s relative economic incline can be as difficult as managing an economy’s relative decline.
Speakers: Petr Blizkovsky, Fredrik Erixon, Guy de Jonquières, George Magnus, Joao Marques de Almedia, Razeen Sally,
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Past events