Export controls on
dual-use goods gained in importance against the background of rising
geopolitical tensions and conflicts and a shift towards a ‘geoeconomic order’.
With challenges posed by China’s rise as an economic and technological power,
its growing tendency to use economic interdependencies and vulnerabilities to
its advantage, and its military build-up, the European Union and the United
States reconsidered their export control policies on dual-use goods. This
article compares the specific choices of EU and US policymakers in export
control policy and the changes in the purpose and scope of their respective
approaches. We analyse and explain these policy changes in the context of their
broader economic statecraft strategies, defining their response to security
risks emanating from China as a rising and increasingly assertive power.