Exports | Bruegel

Blog Post

EU trade in medical goods: why self-sufficiency is the wrong approach

As countries are struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages in medical equipment led to EU export controls and war-time like procurement of respirators. While the crisis is still unfolding, there is a debate on whether the EU is too reliant on global value chains for medical goods. Looking at the world market of medical goods for the EU, we argue that self-sufficiency is the wrong approach. Global medical markets are to the benefits of the EU and stockpiling and preparation are more effective in preparing for emergencies.

By: Sybrand Brekelmans, Niclas Poitiers and Bruegel Topic: Global economy and trade Date: April 14, 2020

Opinion

Companies must move supply chains further from China

Virus shows Southeast Asian factories too dependent on imported production inputs

By: Alicia García-Herrero and alihan Topic: Global economy and trade Date: February 28, 2020

Working Paper

How does China fare on the Russian market? Implications for the European Union

China’s economic ties with Russia are deepening. Meanwhile, Europe remains Russia’s largest trading partner, lender and investor. An analysis of China’s ties with Russia, indicate that China seems to have become more of a competitor to the European Union on Russia’s market. Competition over investment and lending is more limited, but the situation could change rapidly with China and Russia giving clear signs of a stronger than ever strategic partnership.

By: Alicia García-Herrero, Jianwei Xu and Bruegel Topic: Global economy and trade Date: November 18, 2019

Opinion

Lose-lose scenario for Europe from ongoing China-US negotiations

Without an expectation of a larger market for European exports in the absence of additional opening up by Chinese authorities, European exporters should not enjoy the ongoing China-US negotiations.

By: Alicia García-Herrero and Bruegel Topic: Global economy and trade Date: January 9, 2019

Blog Post

U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs: how should the EU respond?

President Trump and his trade team are set on a path of protectionism and economic nationalism. Trump’s intended measure raises four issues for the EU: the effect on European industry; how to deter Trump’s broader protectionist thrust; how to use the WTO Dispute System in this case; and, how to prepare for the contingency of a post-WTO or truncated-WTO world.

By: Uri Dadush Topic: Global economy and trade Date: March 9, 2018

Blog Post

How export growth achieved adjustment of massive trade deficits in the euro area

The reduction of current account deficits in euro-area countries since the 2008 crisis is strongly driven by increases in exports that dampened the effect on production of the fall in demand and imports.

By: Konstantinos Efstathiou, Guntram B. Wolff and Bruegel Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: May 31, 2017

Opinion

Germany is not Volkswagen

The Volkswagen scandal has raised questions about the German model of production. If the success of the company’s diesel-powered vehicles was due in part to fraudulent efforts to conceal the amount of harmful pollutants they emitted, will similar revelations at other companies call into questions the country’s transformation from “the sick man of Europe” to an export-driven economic powerhouse?

By: Bruegel and Dalia Marin Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: October 12, 2015

Past Event

An export-led recovery: what lessons from Central and Eastern Europe?

Global Economics

Topic: Global economy and trade Date: May 28, 2015