Focus On - Beyond the walls: opportunities for the Made in Italy from the new EU agreements

Executive Summary

In recent years, protectionism has become fashionable once again. More than 8 thousand discriminatory measures were introduced globally between November 2008 and June 2017. The most damaged sectors include automotive, metallurgy and instrumental mechanics: these segments account for almost 40% of Italian exports.

G20 Countries are “responsible” for over two-thirds of the measures implemented, with the USA in the forefront. Since it took office, the new US administration has “thrown three-in-a-row”: it has withdrawn from the TPP, has introduced a wide range of discriminatory measures and has started renegotiating Nafta.

Renegotiation, not cancellation, as announced during the last election campaign. The importance of the agreement, which supported over 1 million jobs in the United States in 2015, pushed the US towards modernising the treaty also considering the strong synergies consolidated over the years for trade, production chains and company competitiveness.

While the new US administration has been raising walls, the European Union has been promoting free trade seeking to eliminate most of the duties on the products of our companies. In fact, it signed an agreement with Canada, is close to finalising one with Japan and is negotiating new ones with other important partner countries.

Many opportunities are opening up for Italian companies, also with SACE SIMEST, like Eurotranciatura in Mexico (a total commitment of over 19 million euro) and MooRER in Japan (a loan of more than 2 million euro).

For the full study download the pdf