Giuseppe Porcaro hosts Bruegel director Guntram Wolff and visiting fellow Rebecca Christie to reflect on the key policy positions taken by the candidates for the European Commission presidency, ahead of May's elections. European elections are fast approaching. With them comes not just a visit to the polls, but the beginning of a sequence involving the European Parliament and the Council that will eventually decide who becomes the next president of the Commission. The Spitzenkandidaten process sees each of the parties put forward their nominated candidate - or candidates - one of whom should eventually assume the presidency, if the various criteria can be met. Looking back upon Bruegel's recent six-part series of events, held in partnership with the Financial Times, the discussants assess the candidates' views on Europe's future industrial policy path, the EU's stance on the growing trade dispute between the US and China, as well as the most vital and realistic euro-area reforms for the next five years. The debate also considers how each of the candidates might be positioning themselves and their parties in the complex process of selecting a new president. Giuseppe Porcaro leads the review with Bruegel visiting fellow Rebecca Christie and director Guntram Wolff, in this special edition of the Backstage series. If you would like to review the series in more depth, we recommend our blog post: ‘Spitzenkandidaten visions for the future of Europe’s economy’, which contains extracts and video clips from the events. You can also visit the main page for our Spitzenkandidaten series, to review the content in full.

Bruegel director Guntram Wolff and Bruegel fellow Uri Dadush welcome William Alan Reinsch, senior adviser and Scholl chair in international business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for a discussion of how China-US relations are developing in the context of unfolding trade war. With President Trump increasing tariffs on the US' imports from China and China retaliating in kind, the trade dispute between the two countries is escalating quickly. Here the discussants elaborate on the disruption caused by trade tariffs, the likelihood of China acquiescing to US demands with regard to economic reform, and where the EU might figure in the stand-off.  Guntram Wolff introduces this Director's Cut of 'The Sound of Economics', welcoming Bruegel fellow Uri Dadush as well as William Alan Reinsch, senior adviser and Scholl chair in international business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.   If you are interested in more of Bruegel's work on this topic, we suggest Uri Dadush's blog post on the full implications of the escalating trade dispute between the US and China. We also recommend Alicia García-Herrero's working paper on the EU's options amid the China-US trade turmoil.