The EU’s ‘geoeconomic turn’ in trade – Business as usual?

The geoeconomic turn in EU trade policy has increasingly been studied and accepted in scholarly debates. While foreign policy pundits tend to see the rise of geoeconomics as unprecedented in the EU context, post-colonial perspectives rather see this alleged shift as business as usual. From a historical point of view, one may question whether this turn actually entails a dramatic shift from some of the EU’s trade policies in the past, particularly concerning the EU’s trade relations with the global souths. This ambiguity is further amplified by the often differing conceptions and overlapping visions over what geoeconomic EU trade policy entails. This paper sheds light on this gap within the geoeconomics literature answering: How does the ‘geoeconomic turn in EU trade’ relate to the EU’s previous assertive trade policies towards the global souths? To answer this question we apply two steps. First we construct a theoretical framework on geoeconomic trade policy along two axes: 1) the nature of geoeconomic trade policy, defensive or offensive, and 2) the objective of geoeconomic trade policy, economic competition or foreign policy rivalry. Secondly, we adopt a directed content analysis of EU official documents and press statements. We will particularly look at cases of foreign policy through trade towards the global souths over time, focusing on preferential trade agreements; economic partnership agreements, GSP arrangements and (new) trade defence instruments. We will argue that significant continuities exist with specific types of geoeconomics in the EU’s trade policy today.