The EU-China investment agreement: a real breakthrough
The new EU-China investment agreement will benefit Europe, China, the world, and even the United States, despite the latter’s warnings against it. In general terms, the agreement signifies the intention of the EU and China to continue to deepen economic relations, by granting each party more assured access for investments in the other’s economy. European industry will gain better access to China’s enormous domestic market just as China embarks on a decade of green and digital economic restructuring, and at a time when Europe is striving to stay at the technological forefront in these areas.
Europe and China’s Year-End Breakthrough
By: Jeffrey D. Sachs – Columbia University
…not so fast!
Dani Rodrik wonders whether through the EU-China investment agreement the EU has given up its freedom to pursue policies that limit complicity in human rights and labor abuses or safeguard European national security and labor standards. At this point, it is unclear whether the dispute resolution framework outlined by the agreement will allow the EU to prevent Chinese firms with either problematic labor or environmental practices, or Chinese firms that present national security concerns from operating in the EU.
We should not judge the CAI by whether it enables Europe to export its system and values. We should judge it by whether it allows Europe to remain true to its own.
Europe’s China Gambit
By: Dani Rodrik – Harvard University
A geopolitical view
So, what is the end game here? Can we imagine a world with one global multilateral system, in which trade and financial flows benefit from free and open trade? Or is the world de facto moving towards two poles of attraction, one based on the western way, and one on the eastern? A world in which there are two multilateral systems in which trade within members of each group is seamless but with limited interaction between them?
An EU – China investment deal: a second look
By: Maria Demertzis – Bruegel
