Publication

In Europe, the focus on exports and investment is leading to increased competition between member states and encouraging bilateralism, to the detriment of common EU approaches and broader foreign policy considerations. The EU focuses on commercial diplomacy as a means to achieve growth whilst the US speaks of economic statecraft as a means of retaining leadership and shaping the global political system. Europe’s myopic focus on economic growth leaves China, the rest of the BRICS countries and the US vying for the political influence necessary to shape the emerging multipolar world order.