?????? How does the European Union hope to uphold the sovereignty of its member countries? (At least to the outside world)

The?European Union?is about to present a new?mechanism?so that any country accused of?economic harassment of an EU member nation?can be subjected to?sanctions such as tariffs, suspension of market access, cancellation of trade licenses, exclusion from public procurement programs or the blocking of investments.?The?idea defended by Brussels is that this mechanism should be, above all, a?deterrent.

In this way, the anti-coercion tool will punish States that attempt to "interfere with the sovereign and legitimate decisions" of the EU or one of its 27 member States. The measure, which began to be developed when Donald Trump unilaterally imposed tariffs on certain European economic sectors, seeks above all to be a?forceful response to the recent diplomatic crisis between Lithuania and China.?Beijing has been accused of blocking Lithuanian exports after the Baltic country expanded its ties with Taiwan.

"The Lithuanian authorities have informed us of individual cases of companies that have not been able to clear customs when trying to export to China. We will see if this is a one-off or systematic.”?- Miriam García Ferrer, Spokesperson for trade and agriculture at the European Commission

Of course, the measure is not limited to China, it could also prevent other countries like Russia from attempting to use economic blackmail.

Why is it important?

In recent years China has implemented a new foreign policy known as?"Wolf Warrior Diplomacy". According to it, the Chinese government threatens and punishes all those countries that it understands do not have a favorable position to its interests by means of economic mechanisms. The punishments usually take the form of?trade barriers, cancellation of imports, blocking of investments, reduction of the flow of tourists or public discredit campaigns, among other possibilities.

In this way, Beijing uses?coercion as a regular mechanism to achieve its interests?and prevent other countries from criticising or opposing Chinese government policy. On other occasions it is also used to "incentivize" governments to facilitate the access of Chinese companies to certain sensitive sectors or infrastructures.?Countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Sweden and now Lithuania have suffered this type of punishment.

Now the instrument presented by the European Commission opens up an interesting debate: on the one hand there is the deterrence factor. Being able to confront a country that is using economic punishments to achieve political objectives may be reasonable.

On the other hand, however, if these kinds of punishment-response instruments become popular, it could be bad for everyone. Their use could end up creating a more closed world with many more restrictions on the free movement of goods, capital and personnel.

Ideally, it would be in everyone's interest for politics to leave economic relations and economic flows untroubled. So?the question is, does the risk pay off? The debate continues.