Trade

The aim of ESSPIN is to examine the impact of global megatrends on social, economic and spatial inequalities in the EU.

The RETHINK-GSC project, funded by the EU's Horizon Europe program, is a research project that uses innovative methods to analyze the effects of global supply chains (GSCs) and develops new methodologies to quantify the role of knowledge flows and service inputs. The aim of the RETHINK-GSC is to capture the increasing importance of intangibles in global production and to provide new insights into ongoing and expected changes in global production processes.

The KlimaF-I project analyses the importance of research and innovation (R&I) measures for achieving climate policy goals. Both the scientific and the application-related political perspectives are taken into account. The aim of the project is to gain a profound understanding of the significance of R&I measures for the achievement of climate policy goals, regarding systemic and cross-measure effects. The focus of the project is on German climate policy, which interacts closely with European climate policy.

Should the EU impose a 20 percent tariff on imports of Chinese electric cars, as speculated, it would have a noticeable impact on bilateral trade and production in Europe. The volume of imported electric cars from China would fall by 25 percent. Converted to the almost 500,000 vehicles imported in 2023, this corresponds to an estimated 125,000 units worth almost 4 billion US dollars. The decline would largely be offset by an increase in production within the EU and a lower volume of EV exports, which would likely mean noticeably higher prices for end consumers. This is shown by simulations by the Kiel Institute.

Although China's importance for the EU's foreign trade is high, it has declined in recent years. The reason for this is that the EU has intensified trade with other countries. In a recent analysis, the Kiel Institute recommends the EU to continue on this course and conclude free trade agreements with countries such as Australia and the Mercosur states. In this way, it could reduce its dependence on China in the face of geopolitical tensions. China currently dominates as a supplier of certain electronic products and raw materials to the EU. If trade were to be disrupted, this would result in high costs in the short and medium term.

The tariffs recently imposed by US President Joe Biden on imports from China, particularly electric cars, are unlikely to have any negative trade consequences for Europe. In particular, the number of electric cars imported by the US from China is so small, only 12,000 per year, that a detour to other target markets is practically unnoticeable.