POLITICO brings you up to speed on the famed-but-unused instrument:
What exactly is it?
The Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI for acronym-lovers) is the gun the bloc can put on the negotiating table when it is being blackmailed by trade rivals. Its aim is mostly deterrence: The tool, which is not only a trade but also a foreign policy measure, seeks to prevent foreign powers from pressuring European countries — and envisages taking action as a last resort.
More specifically, it allows the EU to impose economic pain in such cases — from trade and investment restrictions to sanctions on intellectual property rights. Before wielding it, Brussels gives countries the opportunity to backtrack from their “coercive measures,” to broker an agreement based on international rules.
The European Commission defines economic coercion as a situation where a third country pushes the EU or one of its member countries to make a certain choice by applying — or threatening to apply — trade and investment measures. Coercion could take the form of trying to shape legislation or prevent it from being implemented by imposing additional import duties, for example.
Why does the EU have it?
A key component of the EU’s new trade defense armory and its strategy to become more assertive on the international stage, the instrument was first proposed at the end of 2021 and took effect two years later.
It was developed as EU member countries began to face increasing economic pressure, notably during Trump’s first presidency, when he sanctioned European firms involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. In 2021, China cracked down on imports from Lithuania as well as on goods from other EU countries — such as France, Germany and Sweden — that included parts from Lithuania after Vilnius announced it would open a diplomatic office in Taiwan.