The trade tensions triggered in 2018 by the resurgence of protectionist pressures on the global scene had already underlined the political and economic importance of the European project in navigating an increasingly complex global situation. The pandemic has abruptly intensified the decline in international trade and highlighted the risks connected with an extremely fragmented production system, based on value chains spread across the globe.
In the last two decades, there have certainly been significant economic benefits from production being organized on a global scale but even in more recent times, these benefits had started to wane, particularly in the manufacturing sector and partly as a result of the progress in automation.