Economics & Trade Programme
Research on trade policy, economic statecraft, sanctions and economic security.
The programme examines how governments use trade, financial and industrial policy, and how those decisions affect supply chains, market access and international security.
Research scope
ETP produces policy briefs, analysis and interviews on economic measures used by governments and the security consequences of trade and industrial decisions.
- Sanctions, export controls and countermeasures
- Trade agreements, tariffs and market access
- Critical minerals, industrial policy and supply chains
- Financial infrastructure and economic statecraft
Featured ETP research
Selected publications from ETP analysts. Images, titles and summaries come from the posts themselves and update when new research is published.
-
Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline Deal: The Hormuz Factor
The Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline deal reveals how the Hormuz shutdown weakened Baghdad’s bargaining power and helped Ankara secure a stake in Kirkuk oil production.
-
Botswana, Angola and the Fight Against Synthetic Diamonds
Botswana and Angola face growing competition from synthetic diamonds. Can provenance, branding and De Beers ownership preserve the value of natural diamonds?
-
Growing and Getting Poorer: Revenue, Return and Realignment in Afghanistan’s Economy, Five Years On
Executive Summary Afghanistan’s economy grew 4.8% in FY2025 while real income per head fell 5.6%, a divergence explained by the 5.4 million Afghans returned from…
-
Turning Mineral Potential into Supply: Colombia and the US
Executive Summary The Colombia-United States (US) memorandum of understanding (MOU) on critical minerals creates a framework for strengthening Colombia’s potential contribution to US supply-chain diversification.…
CISES Sanctions Tracker
The Sanctions Tracker maintains a source-linked record of sanctions, export controls and countermeasures across six jurisdictions. It enables comparison of issuing authorities, targets, types of measures and stated objectives.
It is a research database, not a sanctions-screening or compliance service.
Explore the tracker ↗
ETP leadership
Tasneem Ismail
Programme Director, Economics & Trade Programme
Erin Spellman-Butler
Deputy Programme Director, Economics & Trade Programme
ETP interviews
Interviews on EU–Canada relations, financial infrastructure and critical minerals.
Could Canada Become the EU’s First Associate Member? | Michael McAdoo
Trade relations and the prospects for closer EU–Canada cooperation.
Why Washington Is Fearing Brazil’s Pix system? (It’s Visa)
Brazil’s payment infrastructure and its implications for financial competition.
Europe’s Critical Minerals Problem: What Japan Did Differently
What Europe can learn from Japan’s approach to mineral supply chains.
All ETP publications
Browse research published by the Economics & Trade Programme. This list updates automatically and includes numbered pages of earlier articles.
-
Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline Deal: The Hormuz Factor
The Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline deal reveals how the Hormuz shutdown weakened Baghdad’s bargaining power and helped…
-
Botswana, Angola and the Fight Against Synthetic Diamonds
Botswana and Angola face growing competition from synthetic diamonds. Can provenance, branding and De Beers ownership…
-
Growing and Getting Poorer: Revenue, Return and Realignment in Afghanistan’s Economy, Five Years On
Executive Summary Afghanistan’s economy grew 4.8% in FY2025 while real income per head fell 5.6%, a…
-
Turning Mineral Potential into Supply: Colombia and the US
Executive Summary The Colombia-United States (US) memorandum of understanding (MOU) on critical minerals creates a framework…
-
What the UK’s Data Centre Boom Reveals About the Stalled Tech Prosperity Deal
Executive Summary The suspension of the UK–US Technology Prosperity Deal in December 2025 exposed a gap…
-
From Berlin to Abuja: Why Europe’s Next Supply Chain Runs through Africa
On July 21-22, 2026, the German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited Lagos, Nigeria, as part of…
-
Brazil’s New Approach to Critical-Mineral Investment
Executive Summary: Brazil’s new critical-minerals policy shifts from attracting investment towards actively steering it by conditioning…
-
Why Kyrgyzstan is Central Asia’s Most Persistent Sanctions Evasion Pathway
Executive Summary The EU’s 21st Russia sanctions package, adopted on 23 July 2026, is the largest…
-
What lies behind Mongolia’s fuel crisis?
Summary In July, Mongolia entered a fuel crisis that brought the government to impose a temporary…
-
Humanoid Robots Might Be the Next Battlefield in US-China Tech Competition. China Has the High Ground
Executive Summary Introduction Humanoid robots are rapidly leaving the realm of science fiction and entering the…
-
Who Actually Gets the Refund? The Distributional Gap in America’s $166 Billion Tariff Reversal
Executive Summary In February 2026, the Supreme Court ruled the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency…
-
From scientific excellence to commercial success: addressing Europe’s pharmaceutical competitiveness gap
Executive summary The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ (EFPIA) latest competitiveness analysis provides an…
Follow ETP research
Publications, interviews and project updates from the Economics & Trade Programme.