EU Open Strategic Autonomy in a Post-Covid World: An Italian Perspective on the Sustainability of Global Value Chains

The new EU trade strategy focusing on supply chains resilience and sustainability as a pillar of the European path towards open strategic autonomy raises concerns, especially with regard to the potential risks of encouraging protectionism and undermining international interdependence. According to recent evidence concerning Italy’s role in international production networks, the restructuring of GVCs through reshoring processes does not seem to be neither efficient nor a priority for companies. Drawing on recent findings concerning the debate on economic interdependence and the resilience of global value chains, alternative trade policy options are recommended as possible applications of the EU open strategic autonomy in the pursuit of sustainable GVCs.

Paper prepared in the framework of the project "Politiche e strumenti per promuovere l’autonomia strategica dell’Ue nei settori della difesa, del commercio internazionale e dell’allargamento". A previous version has been presented on 25 June 2021 during the webinar “EU Strategic Autonomy and Trade Policy in a Post-Covid World”.