Abstract

While international trade between Eastern and Western Europe shrinks, some Western countries may be tempted to use protectionist measures to curtail job losses. If put in place, those measures would run the risk of causing a permanent reduction of East-West European trade integration, undermining the operations of the transnational production networks that in recent years have helped the global competitiveness of European firms. Such short-sighted measures would foster rather than hamper the negative effects of the crisis on European manufacturers.