One of the toughest jobs in the European Union is trade commissioner.
Under EU law, national governments don't set their own trade rules.
That's all handled by Maros Sefcovic in Brussels.
He represents the world's largest trade bloc when he sits at the negotiating table.
I traveled to the Commission's headquarters to ask the man on the frontline of this battle
whether Europe needs to play America and China at their own game.
Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, welcome to Inside Geopolitics.
Thank you very much for having me.
For nearly 70 years, promoting trade and opening borders has made Europe richer and stronger.
But that concept of free trade is under unprecedented attack from America and from China.
Just how dangerous a moment is this for Europe?
I think it's clearly unprecedented indeed.
We've been for many years number one trader, and I'm really glad to say that
despite of all this turbulence we are going to discuss,
if it comes to goods and services combined,
Europe is still number one trader in the world.
And I think it's extremely important for our way of life, for our economical fundamentals,
because almost half of our GDP, 50%, and more than 30 million of jobs in Europe
are in one way or another linked to the, you know,
good trading with our partners.