The EU Draft Regulation to Counter Economic Coercion: A Brief Discussion of Economic Coercion in the Context of International Law

Economic coercion concerns the situation where one state uses trade or investment restrictions towards another state to coerce it to change its legitimate policies. The EU has taken the step to introduce a regulation on protection of the EU and its member states from economic coercion by third countries. The EU response to economic coercion can to some extent find legitimacy in general international law. The paper addresses briefly the concept of ‘economic coercion’ of the draft Regulation in the context of international law. It discusses some of its conceptual challenges as some types of economic coercion may be considered as lawful responses to EU conduct.