Economic security has become a term of art, defining the national economic and trade policies of many countries in recent years. Under this concept, nations have adopted a wide range of measures to protect their respective geopolitical and geoeconomic interests.
While these policies and measures vary, they consistently take the form of unilateral or bilateral actions aimed at protecting key national interests through economic channels. They unilaterally redesign domestic structures or bilaterally
introduce collaboration schemes.
Consider the ongoing
supply chain dialogue. It revolves primarily around unilateral or bilateral schemes to reconstruct sourcing processes for parts and raw materials, although it carries broader implications for other countries. It is not a plurilateral or multilateral arrangement but a stack of bilateral arrangements between the United States and its partners.
Let’s also consider the succession of tariff measures adopted by the US government
since February 2025. These, too, have been anchored in the concept of economic security. The Trump administration has made repeated references to “national security” in justifying the imposition of tariffs.
Whether you agree with it or not, the underlying rationale is to adopt unilateral action followed by a bilateral settlement package to defend US national interests. The same logic applies to others sitting at the negotiating table with Washington; they seek to protect their own national interests through special economic arrangements with the US, thereby putting into action their own versions of economic security.
These other countries have adopted a diverse range of economic security measures. For these US counterpart countries, economic security remains largely passive and defensive, focused on shielding national interests from external threats through internal mechanisms and
strategic bilateral arrangements with Washington.
