If it is to reinforce its international influence, then the EU must redouble its commitment to multilateral trade liberalisation

In recent years, the EU has developed its ‘commercial diplomacy’ as a means to achieve growth, while the US has taken a much more strategic approach of economic statecraft in order to shape global politics. Ana Echagüe argues that utilitarian attempts to gain economic presence are unlikely to serve the EU’s long-term interests, and that the EU must reinvigorate its commitment to multilateralism in its trade relations to avoid the erosion of rule based governance by naked competition.