EU trade policy & WTO: Open world or return of division?

Having grown alongside the open rules-based global system launched at Bretton Woods, EU trade is under review, at a time when the functioning of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is also under challenge, and when international mistrust threatens the very idea of a global economy open for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The European Commission is currently engaged in a thorough policy review. There are certainly some questions to address, which have implications well beyond the usually cloistered world of trade policy theory:

• Does the recent call for high-ambition coalitions with like-minded partners herald an end to a global rulebook?
• Can technological autonomy, carbon neutrality, and sustainable food systems be secured with open borders?
• Can Europe lead on a path distinct from the conflicts between the US and Chinese spheres of influence?