The Fastest way to Recover Europe’s Economy is to Restart Trade

The coming economic crisis, once the Coronavirus has cleared, is thought to be one of the worst in human history. Millions of jobs are at stake and because of that so are the livelihoods of millions more. In order to keep the economy afloat, we must take drastic measures and come up with solutions that keep the endless cycle of supply and demand going.

One solution that hasn’t been talked about nearly as much as it should be is the need to open up trade. Because the recovery will no doubt be slow in Europe’s industrial sector, we should look at making it easier to export to the rest of the world, and if there is a need, import as well.

The European Union should be looking at how it can expand its free trade capacity. As it stands, Europe continues to hide behind high tariff barriers that make importing from outside Europe difficult, as well as exporting even harder. The European Commission should look to see where it can waive such barriers in order to support key industries, especially when it comes to raw materials.

There is no reason why this shouldn’t happen – the EU has already waived tariffs on medical goods coming into Europe. Why not extend this further to cover other goods and services that are required to speed up the recovery until Europe reaches a point where it has reached its pre-crisis capacity. It could be considered a great experiment in moving Europe back towards its roots as a free trading power bloc.

What’s more is that it would significantly cut costs for businesses who depend on components from outside the EU, and give supply chains a chance to recover. European companies will also need time to catch up on their outstanding orders and this will offer them some relief as well. In effect creating further competition which will drive the economy forwards.

This will also offer Europe a chance to diversify its trade partners, finally moving towards ending its gross overdependence on China and moving Europe to the centre of the globalised world. Of course, other measures should be taken alongside, but history has always shown that liberalised economic approaches yield the best results.

This position for free trade requires a clarification regarding agriculture. The requirements to which European agricultural and livestock production are subjected, and therefore their increase in cost, sometimes require protection and not accepting unfair competition from third countries under the free trade that can ruin our agriculture. But, this is a topic for another article.