The study requested by the INTA Committee of the European Parliament examines how third countries use economic interdependencies to influence the European Union, its Member States and EU-linked firms. Economic pressure has become an increasingly common feature of the EU’s external economic relations, involving trade, investment and energy flows, procurement rules and access to technology. Regulation (EU) 2023/2675 establishing the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) provides the EU with a formal framework for responding to such practices.
The study finds that economic pressure affecting the EU has intensified since 2024, with multiple episodes increasingly overlapping across sectors and instruments. China accounts for 42% of the cases analysed and has become the main source of economic pressure since 2024, while the US accounts for 24%. The findings also show that Russia, as well as mid-sized and regional actors, can exercise significant leverage by exploiting strategic dependencies or control over key sectors and commodities. EU firms are particularly frequent targets of such pressure.
Case studies involving China, the US and Indonesia illustrate different forms of this strategic challenge, while the legal analysis identifies key questions concerning the practical application of the ACI.
The study concludes that while the ACI provides the EU with a legal framework for addressing economic coercion, the main challenge is now operational and political. As economic pressure becomes more frequent, persistent and closely linked to strategic dependencies, the EU needs to make coercion harder to conceal and sustain, and less attractive for third countries.
