https://arab.news/2bg6p
The term geopolitics has long been used to highlight the complexity of international affairs. Yet, geoeconomics has also risen in popularity in recent years as a concept that helps explain today’s world of potentially waning globalization.
Geoeconomics highlights the use of tariffs, sanctions, and wider financial measures as tools of statecraft. An example is the growth in the use of sanctions, as shown for instance by the 19 packages of measures that the EU alone has implemented against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
This agenda has become a key item at global leadership summits, including this year’s G7 events. In the latter forum in Canada, geoeconomics was one of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s major priorities in “building energy security and accelerating the digital transition,” including “fortifying critical mineral supply chains.”
This security-focused economic agenda has come to higher prominence since the Ukraine war, which exposed the huge reliance of Europe, and some other surrounding powers, on Russian energy. Since then, there has been an intensified emphasis by many advanced industrialised economies in diversifying dependence for energy and wider raw materials. This has seen a series of major trade deals, including the EU-Mercosur and UK-India agreements.
