For those who believe in free trade – and in the principle that the EU should be a force for promoting free trade around the world – the last few years have been disappointing. The focus of the von der Leyen Commission on expanding the vast new ‘Green Deal’ has seen a return to protectionism. New barriers to trade and free enterprise have been erected in the name of defending the environment, and yet the cost has been borne mostly by the EU’s closest allies, and the Global South.
