As the global power balances shift and the rules-based international order comes under pressure, the EU is searching for unexpected allies to uphold a rules-based trade system [4]. A core emerging strategy involves a "coalition of the willing" led by China, Brazil, Mexico, and others joining forces to protect the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from the hardening political rivalries between the US and EU [4]. This diplomatic pivot is driven by the US return of protectionism and the need for Europe to reshape globalization around resilience rather than pure market efficiency [1].
The EU’s emerging economic statecraft now explicitly links stability with external agendas like environmental sustainability and human rights, aiming to establish a level playing field with competitors [2]. However, the EU also relies increasingly on unilateral tools and investment screening to defend its interests, signaling a willingness to engage in a global subsidies race [2]. This dual approach—multilateral alliance-building and unilateral defense—defines the EU's strategy in a world of systemic rivalry [3].
The threat to the multilateral system the EU has relied on for seven decades is real, as neither China nor the US separates economics from geopolitics anymore [5]. Europe’s foreign and economic policy must now move together, with High Representative Kaja Kallas tasked to shape a new foreign economic policy focusing on economic security [2]. The bottom line is that the EU is adapting its economic model to a world defined by technological competition and chronic instability, seeking partners who still value the WTO framework [1].
