Thursday, October 23, 2025
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT
October 23, 2025
Europe and Latin America in the New Trade Order
Event Series: GEO-LAC: Latin America in the New Geoeconomic Order
With growing geopolitical tensions, shifting alliances, technological disruptions, and rising protectionism, understanding the emerging geoeconomic order is critical for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI) is proud to host GEO-LAC: Latin America in the New Geoeconomic Order, a new dialogue series that explores the complex and evolving landscape of global trade, investment, supply chains, and economic alliances—placing Latin America at the center of the conversation.
As the global trade landscape continues to shift, driven by geopolitical tensions, technological disruptions, and renewed protectionism, the European Union faces the dual challenge of defending open markets while redefining its global role. To discuss this, the Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI) is pleased to invite you to its next GEO-LAC conversation, with Cecilia Malmström, former EU Commissioner for Trade and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who will reflect on the new trade order emerging worldwide, the EU’s positioning and strategic responses, and the implications and opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The discussion will examine how Europe is redefining its trade policy to balance economic security with openness, addressing the EU's approach to reshaping global value chains, strengthening resilience through diversification, and advancing new trade and investment frameworks with like-minded partners. Particular attention will be given to how transatlantic and interregional dynamics, especially with Latin America and the Caribbean, are being reshaped by initiatives such as the EU’s Global Gateway, the modernization of existing trade agreements, and the negotiation of new ones. The conversation will also assess the role of green and digital trade, critical raw materials, and regulatory cooperation as engines for deeper EU–LAC integration, ultimately highlighting how both regions can work together to sustain open markets and promote a rules-based, sustainable, and inclusive global trading system.
The event will feature an introduction by GAI Director Alejandro Werner and a conversation hosted by Nicolás Albertoni and Antoni Estevadeordal from the Georgetown Americas Institute’s Latin America in the Global Economy program.
Featuring
Nicolás Albertoni is a visiting fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute. He previously served as vice minister of foreign affairs of Uruguay from 2022 to 2025. He has authored several articles and books on Latin America Development and Integration, including Trade Protectionism in an Uncertain and Interconnected Global Economy (Routledge, 2024). Albertoni has two Ph.D.s and three master’s degrees (one from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service) in the areas of political science, economics, and international relations. He is also an alumnus of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (2012) at Georgetown University. In 2021, he received the Order of Arete from the University of Southern California, the highest honor accorded for an academic contribution. In 2023, he was recognized by the Club of Madrid as one of the 30 decision-makers and leaders around the world, and in 2018 he was included in the list of Global Americans New Generation of Public Intellectuals.
Antoni Estevadeordal is a resident fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute, where he leads the project Latin America in the Global Economy, and senior research fellow at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI). He previously held senior roles at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), including IDB representative in Europe, head of the IDB Migration Initiative, and manager of the Integration and Trade Sector. His expertise spans international development, trade and investment policy, and regional integration. He has published extensively in major journals and authored several books. He served as a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on the Future of Logistics, and has also taught at leading universities in Spain, the United States, and China. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in economics from the University of Barcelona.
Cecilia Malmström, a former member of the European Commission and the European Parliament, joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) as nonresident senior fellow in June 2021. She is host of PIIE's Trade Winds biweekly virtual event series. She is also a visiting professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. Malmström has devoted the better part of her career to global affairs and international relations and has extensive experience with multilateral leadership and cooperation. She served as European commissioner for trade from 2014 to 2019 and as European commissioner for home affairs from 2010 to 2014. She was first elected as a member of the European Parliament in 1999, serving until 2006, and was minister for EU affairs in the Swedish government from 2006 to 2010. As European commissioner for trade, Malmström represented the European Union in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade bodies. She was responsible for negotiating bilateral trade agreements with key countries, including agreements with Canada, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Vietnam, and the four founding Mercosur countries. Malmström holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg.
Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.