Weaponised trade: The EU and the UK in a polarised world

Program:

17:00 (Anatomy Lecture Theatre)

Welcome: Professor Dan Hunter (Executive Dean, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London)

Welcome: Professor Holger Hestermeyer (Director, CIGAD, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London)

Chair: Iana Dreyer (Borderlex.eu)

Speaker: H.E. Ambassador Inigo Lambertini: “Weaponised trade: The EU and the UK in a polarised world”

Commentator: Professor Federico Ortino (The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London)

18:00 Reception (Anatomy Museum)

Abstract:

The global trading order has increasingly become a victim of the polarisation of the world. The deteriorating relationship between China and the US and the demise of the Appellate Body of the WTO form the background of what commentators have called the weaponisation of trade: President Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium based on - to put it mildly - debatable national security grounds, China's resort to economic coercion against Lithuania and Australia are examples of that weaponisation. Ambassador Lambertini will indeed locate the EU and the UK in this polarised world order.

CVs:

Inigo Lambertini took his duty as Ambassador of Italy to the UK on 6th October 2022. Ambassador Lambertini studied law at the Università Federio II in Naples and, after graduation, worked as a researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. In 1987 he joined the diplomatic service, beginning his career at the Foreign Ministry's Directorate of Economic Affairs in Rome. After postings in Kinshasa, Brazil, Brussels, Washington and Paris he was promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary. In 2014 he was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, serving as co-Chair of the UN Security Council in 2017. Before his posting to London he served as Chief of Diplomatic Protocol. In 2021 he was promoted to the rank of ambassador.

Iana Dreyer is the founder and editor of Borderlex.eu, a specialised news service on trade. Iana graduated from LSE and Sciences Po. Before founding her publishing activity, Iana has worked for ECIPE, the Institut Montaigne and the EU Institute for Security Studies as well as the Financial Times Group, writing on trade and energy policy in Brussels, Paris and London.

Federico Ortino is a Professor of International Economic Law and associate director of CIGAD at King's College London. He is admitted to the Italian and NY Bar and a consultant to Clifford Chance. Federico graduated from the University of Florence, obtained an LLM at Georgetown and a PhD at EUI. Before joining King's he was the director of the investment treaty forum at BIICL, adjunct professor at Florence and Trento, Emile Noel Fellow and Fulbright Scholar at NYU and legal officer at UNCTAD.