A rushed deal or a rush to judgement?

On 30 November 2020 after over 7 years of talks, the European
Union and China concluded negotiations for a Comprehensive
Agreement on Investment (CAI for short).



The agreement is intended to increase investment between the EU
and China by establishing a legal framework and common rules on
issues ranging from state-owned enterprises to subsidy
transparency and rules against the forced transfer of
technologies. The deal replaces more than two dozen bilateral
investment treaties between the EU’s 27 member states and China,
improving market access for European companies operating — or
intending to operate — in China and ensuring a level playing
field and reciprocity when they do.



Does the agreement actually live up to the above claims and seven
years of expectation? To help us find out, in this episode of the
Sound of Economics Giuseppe Porcaro is joined by Bert Hofman, the
director of the East Asian Institute at National University of
Singapore and Bruegel’s China expert Alicia García-Herrero, for a
in depth commentary and glance at what the detail of the deal
means for Europe.



Relevant publications:


Demertzis, M. (2021) ‘An EU – China investment deal: a second
look’ 19 January


García-Herrero, A. (2021) 'Europe’s disappointing investment deal
with China' 4 January