Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 21, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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EU's Von der Leyen warns of a global economic race to the bottom, urging collaboration to modernize rules and sustain mutual gains.
By Leela de Kretser
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Tuesday of the risk of a 'global race to the bottom' using economic tools such as sanctions, export controls and tariffs.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting a day after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Von der Leyen spoke of a new era of harsh geostrategic competition.
"As this competition intensifies, we will likely continue to see frequent use of economic tools, such as sanctions, export controls, and tariffs, that are intended to safeguard economic and national security," she said.
But she said innovation must not be stifled.
"In this spirit, we will need to work together to avoid a global race to the bottom," she added.
"Because it is in no one's interest, to break the bonds in the global economy. Rather we need to modernize the rules to sustain our ability to produce mutual gain for our citizens."
Trump said on Monday that he wanted to reverse the U.S. trade deficit with the European Union, either with tariffs or more energy exports.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Alison Williams and Alexander Smith)
The main topic is the global economic competition and the need for collaboration to avoid a race to the bottom.
She emphasized the importance of working together to prevent economic competition from stifling innovation.
Sanctions, export controls, and tariffs are frequently used tools in economic competition.
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