A tabletop exercise simulating an economic conflict between the EU, China, and the US

MERICS, in the framework of the Think Tank Lab project, is organizing a tabletop exercise simulating an economic conflict between the EU, China, and the US on May 8th from 09:00-13:00. The exercise will pit three teams against each other, with one team playing as the EU, another as the US, and the third as China. The scenario for the exercise is set in H2 of 2026 and will begin with new frictions in place between the three teams. During each round, the teams will discuss their own strategies and choices, negotiate with the other teams (if they so choose), and make final decisions from a ‘menu’ of options to which they can add their own unique measures. Between rounds, a qualitative assessment is done to measure the impact of the actions taken, which will then add modifiers to each team’s ‘impact status assessment’ to which teams will need to be responsive to.

The goal of the exercise is to develop better understandings of how economic security conflicts might develop in the coming months and years. It will also feed into MERICS’ emerging ‘Red Team’ research streams, which aim to help our stakeholders to better understand how China’s top leadership thinks and strategizes.

The Think Tank Lab is a joint initiative of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). It is kindly supported by the Stiftung Mercator and Robert Bosch Stiftung.