Trade Defence Instruments: A New Tool for the European Union’s Extractivism

The European Union (EU) is regularly criticized for using its trade policies to arm-twist other countries into agreeing to supply European factories with raw materials. One area of its trade policy, however, has thus far escaped attention in this regard: trade defence. This should change as the EU increasingly uses trade defence instruments not only to address unfair trade practices but also to seek access to raw materials from other countries. It does so by imposing higher trade defence tariffs on countries that employ policies that ensure raw materials extracted within their territories are processed domestically. This approach is worrisome since, due to the EU’s market size, it may discourage resource-rich countries from developing downstream industries of their own. Furthermore, these countries’ policies are often in line with their international obligations so that the EU is unilaterally infringing on these countries’ sovereignty over their natural resources when targeting these policies. These countries and their exporting producers should thus seize the means at their disposal to put a stop to the EU’s practices.