EU/China/USA- three bloc systemic conflict: Digital policies as trade barriers?!

European companies operate world-wide within international value-chains, networks and ecosystems. However, the world is changing for geopolitical reasons. Increasingly, it becomes divided into large blocks with the EU, the United States and China at the forefront.

These differ in a systemic conflict with respect to ethics, regulatory frameworks, and economic goals. This is particularly relevant for the digital sphere. The Chinese digital regulation sets standards for the Chinese markets that are inherently different from European ones. These divergences in digital governance are likely to become trade obstacles for digital trade and for trade in general. As a result, European companies could potentially be forced to decouple their Chinese operations from Europe, if they want to keep benefitting from the large and growing Chinese market. At the same time, the United States and Europe try to overcome their differences in their approach to dealing with the digital economy by engaging in the TTC, the Trade and Technology Council. 

We would like to discuss the role of diverging digital policies as trade barriers. In how far does this affect European companies? How will they operate in a world where regulators cannot agree on common standards? What does the EU need to do?

Thus the German Economic Institute and the European Liberal Forum cordially invite you to their in-person discussion event on 21 of June 2022 from 12h30-14h45 at the Hanse Office, Avenue Palmerston 20, 1000 Brussels.

Venue:
Hanse Office, Avenue Palmerston 20, 1000 Brussels

Date:
21 of June 2022

Time:
12h30-14h45

Agenda

12:30 Coffee reception

13:00 start with Opening Remarks by Daniel Kaddik, Director, European Liberal Forum

13:05 Panel discussion
Catherine Rinzema, MEP Renew Europe 
Dr. Vera Demary, Head of Digitization at German Economic Institute (IW)
Gautam Kamath, Senior Manager EU Cybersecurity & Privacy, Huawei
Sarah Lenczner, Manager, Government Affairs, Qualcomm Europe (tbc)

13:55 Closing remarks by Philipp Saueracker, European Affairs Analyst (IW)

14:00 Networking with light lunch

14:45 End of event

Moderator:
Luca Bertuzzi, Euractiv