Thank you, Ambassador Kramer,
Dear Ambassadors, Excellencies, Colleagues.
It is a pleasure to be here today and contribute to your week-long reflection on important matters for the European Union.
You have already heard this week from President von der Leyen, President Costa, and President Metsola. A tough act to follow, but Ill give it my best.
In your roles, you are the EUs voice around the world. An increasingly important voice in the face of the current geopolitical upheaval.
This afternoon I want not only to discuss trade and economic security, and their central place in our Unions foreign economic policy.
But also the essential role of our Delegation network worldwide, and how we can ramp up your contribution even further.
I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on these issues.
We live in uncertain times.
The global economy is becoming increasingly fragmented.
The relatively balanced international relations of recent decades, where the world mostly played by the rules, lulled us into taking the stability we enjoyed for granted.
Europe must now be decisive if we are to retain our competitiveness, and secure our prosperity for future generations.
Carrying on with business as usual is not an option.
When it comes to trade, the U.S. and China are understandably at the front of many peoples minds.
So it is worth re-emphasizing some of the facts around the EUs position with regards to them.
First, on the U.S., we enjoy the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world.
In 2023, our bilateral trade reached EUR 1.6 trillion.
More than EUR 4 billion of goods and services cross the Atlantic every day.
So it is clear to me that cooperation pays off. While across-the-board tariffs make everyone worse off.
We therefore stand ready to engage with our U.S. counterparts and to negotiate in our mutual interest.
But I want to be clear that the EU would respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods.
We will act in our own interests, as President von der Leyen told you yesterday, while always keeping a level head.
Second, on China, where we are pursuing a more balanced trade relationship.
While we continue to de-risk our economy, our markets remain open.
But we insist on respect for the level playing field, and again, we will be assertive where needed. This is why we have taken measures on electric cars, for example.
At the same time, I want to stress once more our openness to engage with China to discuss our concerns.
In this context, it is more important than ever to forge reliable and mutually beneficial partnerships across the globe.
Both for the EU, and for many of our partners.
And we increasingly see others turning to the European Union because of our proven record of being a reliable partner and one that can be trusted.
This is a welcome development and one that serves our interests.
But we need to ensure we are ready to deal with the new realities.
For a start, we should be bolder in selling ourselves. We live in a more transactional time. The EU does a lot of good things around the world that tend to be overlooked, and we should fix that.
The same goes for coordinating our foreign policy actions. This is particularly important when thinking of Foreign Economic Policy, which encompasses:
- our trade relations;
- our international partnerships; and
- the external dimension of our efforts to ensure the EUs economic security.
If we are smart about coordinating our policies and tools, our offer to the world is an excellent, mutually beneficial one.
For instance, we are now developing tools like our new Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships, which combine all three elements of Foreign Economic Policy in support of the EUs overall competitiveness.
They should help us secure supplies of raw materials, and promote trade flows in clean energy and clean tech, by presenting an integrated and tailor-made offer to partners.
More broadly, we are seeing the fruits of our efforts to boost cooperation with partners.
In the first two months of this Commission mandate, we finalized negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement, and concluded the talks on a modernized trade deal with Mexico.
We have also re-opened talks with Malaysia, while continuing trade negotiations with India, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, and others.
But while we double down on our global engagement, we need to be very mindful of the inherent risks that economic interdependence can entail.
Therefore, where appropriate, we need to de-risk, reindustrialize and protect the Single Market from the often-unfair industrial policies pursued by others.
Striking a balance between maintaining our openness and relentlessly building up our economic security and competitiveness is of key importance.
Here I see three priorities:
First, we must have an in-depth understanding of the risks we face and devise mitigating measures on that basis.
Second, we must be clear-sighted on when and how we use the tools at our disposal. The upcoming Economic Security Doctrine will reflect on this.
Third, we must engage more with the rest of the world. This means deepening our cooperation with like-minded partners. But also talking to those with whom we dont always see eye to eye.
All with a view to strengthen our economic security.
Your role in this work, as in everything the EU does with the rest of the world, is crucial.
So I want to end with a few words on where we can boost your impact on our work.
We know that fact-based and continuous risk assessment is vital for protecting our economic security.
And we are currently enhancing the contribution of intelligence to deepening this risk assessment.
For this, we want to make the most of your work, of your eyes and ears on the ground, the networks you have established.
We are already working closely on an ad hoc basis with many Delegations in countries that represent higher risks for our economic security, and those that are facing similar risks.
We now want to build further on this and set up more structured ways of cooperation with all of you.
That means making full use of all sections in Delegations and better leveraging what you as Ambassadors can achieve at your level.
Because I know the value you bring, and the unique viewpoint you hold.
With that, I will finish, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.