See afterwards: Heckscher-Ohlin Conference 2025 – Trade Policy for a New Era
The 2025 Heckscher-Ohlin conference took place in mid-October 2025. It aimed to bridge contemporary research and policymaking by bringing together leading trade economists and practitioners. Watch the conference and read short interviews with some of the speakers.
Economic research in the 21st century has made important new contributions to our understanding of international trade. Yet, significant gaps remain between empirical research and trade policy. The 2025 Heckscher-Ohlin conference aimed to bridge contemporary research and policymaking by bringing together leading trade economists and practitioners. The ultimate goal is to make trade policy more firmly evidence-based.
With 2025 marking a new era for international trade, this year’s conference focused on the challenges arising from this shift. How can we restore rules-based trade when its original architect now seems to be turning away from it?
The conference, held 16 October 2025, was jointly organised by the National Board of Trade Sweden and the Stockholm School of Economics.
Watch the conference and read short interviews with some of the speakers.
Videos and interviews: Take part of the presentations
Benjamin Dousa: Free trade is better than tariffs
Benjamin Dousa, Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade
See Benjamin Dousa´s address
Welcome address
Sofie Roy, Senior Executive Vice President of the Stockholm School of Economics
See Sofie Roy's welcome address (video)
Anders Ahnlid, Director-General at the National Board of Trade Sweden
See Anders Ahnlid's welcome address (video, starts at 00:02:45)
Interview with Anders Ahnlid: The EU should step forward and launch a rules-based trade coalition (article)
Research keynote address: Navigating international trade in a new era
Pol Antràs, Professor of Economics Harvard University
See Pol Antràs' presentation (start at 00:13:45)
Questions to Pol Antràs (starts at 00:49:32)
Interview with Pol Antràs: Researchers must make their work more digestible to policymakers (article)
Policy keynote address: Creating a rules-based trading system for a new era
Arancha González, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs, former minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Spain
See Arancha Gonzàlez' presentation (starts at 00:55:25)
Questions to Arancha Gonzàlez (start at 01:22:37)
Interview with Arancha González: Do not sugar-coat the difficulties; show that you understand them and are ready to address them (article)
Lessons from history – from most-favoured-nation to Trump tariffs
Kevin O´Rourke, Professor of Economics, Science Po Paris
Se Kevin O'Rourke's presentation (starts at 02:03:05)
Iana Dreyer, founder and editor of Borderlex
Se Iana Dreyer's presentation (starts at 02:23:15)
Interview with Iana Dreyer: The key challenge is helping politicians understand why trade matters (article)
Hanna C. Norberg, founder och principle of TradeEconomista, president ot TradeExperettes
Se Hanna C. Norberg's presentation (starts at 02:37:45)
Questions to Kevin O'Rourke, Iana Dreyer and Hanna C. Norberg (starts at 02:53:10)
Turning Europe into an economic powerhouse – the trade policy foundation
Holger Görg, Professor of International Economics at Kiel University
See Holger Görg's presentation (starts at 04:34:45)
Eva Sjögren, Director-General for EU Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office, Sweden
See Eva Sjögren's presentation (starts at 04:56:30)
Interview with Eva Sjögren: To build bridges between academia and policy is more important than ever (article)
Johan Henrikson, Chief Executive Officer of Freja eID
See Johan Henrikson's presentation (starts at 05:15:10)
Questions to Holger Görg, Eva Sjögren and Johan Henrikson (starts at 05:27:10)
Economic statecraft for a new age
Vinod K. Aggarwal, Professor Political Science at University of California, Berkeley
See Vinod K. Aggarwal's presentation (starts at 06:19:25)
Vinod K. Aggarwal: The current rules-based order at the global level is dead
Interview with Vinod K. Aggarwal: The current rules-based order at the global level is dead (article)
Alicia García Herrero, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis and Senior Fellow at Bruegel
See Alicia García Herrero's presentation (starts at 06:45:24)
Questions to Vinod K. Aggarwal and Alicia García Herrero (starts at 07:07:32)
Interview with Alicia García Herrero: Europe should pick its battles and find alliances to defend the multilateral trading system (article)
Concluding remarks
Patrik Ström, Director at the Center for Asian Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics
See Patrik Ström's presentation (starts at 07:20:22)