In 2003, many calls were made in favor of an economic boycott both in the United States and in some European countries that disagreed with the Iraq war, but they had no serious economic consequences. Several factors can explain why trade was not sensitive to transatlantic tensions, the first and foremost being that trade is carried out by multinational enterprises. It is nevertheless possible that some products, as those typically symbolising a country’s specialty, will suffer from these measures in the long run.

Sophie Meunier is a researcher at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and co-chairs the “EU Program' at Princeton University. She published, among other titles, L’Union fait la force : l’Europe dans les négociations commerciales internationales (Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, 2005) and Le Nouveau défi francais : la France face à la mondialisation (with Philip Gordon : Paris, Odile Jacob, 2002).

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