EU-UAE trade talks signal strategic shift amid global economic pressures

I shared comments with Tala Michel Issa for Arabian Business on the announced talks over the establishment of a free-trade agreement between the EU and the UAE.

Reminding the significance of the timing of this announcement, “a week after Trump announced his famous Liberation Day tariffs“, I explained how this bilateral approach contrasts with the previous EU-GCC framework and illustrates the general sense of urgency to enter into more CEPAs in times of Trump’s tariff policies.

I stated that “Even though most GCC economies will be spared all retaliatory tariffs, they are still being impacted by indirect consequences on transit trade”. “The UAE, which is particularly aggressively positioned as a global logistics hub, need to sign new free trade agreements because they need to cushion those blows that are coming as we speak.”

I went on to describe the main pillars of the planned FTA between the EU and the UAE (renewable energy, green hydrogen, critical raw materials, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and artificial intelligence), analysing that “Europe has an extremely ambitious decarbonisation agenda and Net Zero targets.” “It necessitates that Europe’s member economies import clean hydrogen massively from high-capacity producers like the UAE, which is really ramping up itself as a clean hydrogen power in the region.”

I ended by discussing the prospects for these talks to open up more alleys towards further FTAs between the EU and other GCC economies, and commented that “I do believe that these bilateral talks between the UAE and the EU could jump start the entire EU-GCC discussion”. “We could see more bilateral agreements between GCC member economies and the EU, again in the broader context of global geo-economic realignment.”

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