ECIPE Afternoon Seminar: Exploring the Global Value Chains space for the EU

In recent years the concept of trade has changed from a final good crossing from one country to another to complex and sophisticated structures of trade in inputs across national borders before they become a final good. This is the world of global supply chains or, as they have recently become known, global value chains. It requires a new paradigm of trade policy, one where the cost and benefits of trade policy are assessed differently than in the past for all countries. However, where exactly are countries positioned within the GVC space? This seminar begins by evaluating the importance of global supply chains for every EU and non-EU country and their relative position on the GVC map. Then follows a discussion on which policy measures are most important to explain each of these countries’ place on the GVC map. In doing so it examines a battery of traditional and non-traditional trade policies with Lucian Cernat, Chief Economist at DG Trade, as a discussant.