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Opportunities and challenges presented by a comprehensive artificial intelligence strategy for EU trade

TA-10-2026-0183 · P10_TA(2026)0183 · PE784.156

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

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Parliament's resolution on AI and EU trade calls for integrating AI into trade facilitation, customs, and market surveillance, and for promoting open-source AI to reduce dependencies. It urges the Commission to address AI-driven changes in services trade, labour markets, and the environment, and to support AI adoption in developing countries through trade agreements and capacity building. The resolution stresses the need for global AI governance convergence, including a WTO working group, and for protecting the EU's human-centric AI model. It calls for strengthening economic security by diversifying supply chains for semiconductors and critical minerals, and for revising export controls to address AI's dual-use nature.

Key points

  1. Calls on the Commission to integrate AI advisory services into Access2Markets and the Single Entry Point, and to prioritize SME-friendly AI tools.
  2. Calls for investment in AI-enabled logistics, paperless trade, and open-source AI solutions to reduce dependence on non-EU providers.
  3. Calls on the Commission to use AI for customs controls and market surveillance, including analyzing small parcels, and to ensure such systems remain independent and sovereign.
  4. Calls for AI to support compliance with EU rules on sustainability, deforestation, forced labour, and product safety.
  5. Calls on the Commission to reflect AI interests in trade negotiations and to mobilize investment to preserve Europe's advantage in services trade.
  6. Calls for strategies to address AI's impact on labour markets and the environment, and for impact assessments in free trade agreements.
  7. Calls for digital inclusion provisions and capacity building to support AI adoption in developing countries, focusing on open-source and ethical AI.
  8. Calls for enhanced inclusion of Parliament in Trade and Technology Councils and for coordinated positions in international forums to promote the EU's AI model.
  9. Calls for a global minimum floor of protections and a coalition of like-minded partners to advance high AI standards.
  10. Calls for digital trade agreements to include provisions on cross-border data flows and regulatory cooperation on AI, while protecting data privacy and regulatory autonomy.
  11. Calls for a WTO Working Group on AI and for ensuring policy space in WTO e-commerce rules.
  12. Calls for accelerating implementation of the Chips Act and CRMA, diversifying supply chains, and revising the Dual-Use Regulation to address AI.

Who is affected

  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from AI advisory services and simplified compliance tools.
  • Customs and market surveillance authorities will get resources and AI tools for enforcement.
  • Developing countries, especially in the Global South, will receive support for AI adoption and capacity building.
  • EU-based cloud and AI providers may gain preferential access to public procurement for critical services.
  • Semiconductor and critical minerals supply chains will be diversified to reduce dependence on China.

Figures and deadlines

  • 6 % of global investment in AI start-ups attracted by the EU in the first half of 2024.