The European Union is the largest trade bloc in the world. Its trade surplus is second only to China’s. Within the EU, Italy has the second highest surplus after Germany. Exports are therefore the lifeline of our economies while the open international markets are our primary interest. As a consequence, the EU has always been the greatest supporter of the multilateral system. This support has been somewhat shaken recently, due to the difficulty for some sectors of our society to adapt to the tween impact of globalisation and the emergence of new powerful actors particularly in Asia, as well as technological change. In fact, we have overlooked the fact that change needs to be governed and the benefits of trade need to be better explained.

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