Decoding the Intersection of Trade and Security in the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument - European Foreign Affairs Review View Decoding the Intersection of Trade and Security in the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument by - European Foreign Affairs Review Decoding the Intersection of Trade and Security in the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument 29 2

The article reviews the dynamics that shaped the recently adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/2675, known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), which represents the EU’s latest autonomous trade measure aimed at protecting the Union and its Member States from economic coercion by third countries. Unlike other legal instruments focusing on international trade, the ACI addresses geopolitical tensions and disputes fought through economic means, thereby departing from traditional trade policy objectives, and entering the sphere of foreign and security policy. This nexus was reflected during the interinstitutional negotiations of the ACI that significantly changed the instrument, whereas the main controversy revolved around determining instances of economic coercion and the subsequent selection of Union response measures. The paper engages with the question of how the genesis of the ACI can be understood by considering both the legal dimension and the critical influence of political and institutional factors. It contends that while the EU’s legal framework provides the leeway to overcome the separation of trade and security foreseen by the Treaties, the institutional dynamics resulted in the instrument being decisively shaped by internal factors related to the division of competence within the EU, rather than external threats. The article advocates for a stronger political vision to determine what role the EU’s trade policy can and should play within the overall shift towards greater strategic autonomy.

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