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Martin Sandbu

European Economics Commentator

Martin Sandbu is the Financial Times's European economics commentator. He also writes Free Lunch, the FT's newsletter on the global economic policy debate. He has been writing for the FT since 2009, when he joined the paper as economics leader writer.

Before joining the FT, he worked in academia and policy consulting. He is the author of three books, on business ethics, the euro, and on the economics of belonging.

Sign up to the Free Lunch newsletter here.

Email Martin Sandbu @MESandbu  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Monday, 2 June, 2025
    EU foreign policy
    It’s in Europe’s interest to put sanctions on Israel

    Limiting trade, travel and freezing foreign reserves would show the EU is willing to act independently of the US

    Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister
  • Thursday, 22 May, 2025
    Free LunchEurozone economy
    Europe has a new economic orthodoxy Premium content

    And it’s a lot better than the old policy consensus

    Mario Draghi is speaking at a podium
  • Sunday, 18 May, 2025
    Brexit
    Why post-Brexit Britain will always remain a supplicant to Europe

    Resets with the EU may improve relations, but they will never give the country the equal standing of a member state

    Donald Tusk, Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer at the EU summit in Tirana
  • Thursday, 15 May, 2025
    Free LunchUS trade
    In praise of America’s trade deficit Premium content

    Net imports are funding the innovative edge that others envy the US so much — and perhaps benefit from too

    Stacks of multicoloured shipping containers are seen at the Port of Long Beach in California, with a row of palm trees in the foreground
  • Thursday, 8 May, 2025
    Free LunchTrump tariffs
    Trump’s tariffs will boomerang on US exporters Premium content

    A tax on imports is a tax on exports

    A worker operates a remote control to pour aluminiumluminum into a furnace at a plant in Goose Creek, South Carolina
  • Monday, 5 May, 2025
    Global trade
    Trump has created a chance for the euro to rival the dollar

    European leaders need to shed their political timidity to take the necessary steps

    Euros and Dollars
  • Thursday, 1 May, 2025
    Free LunchGlobal Economy
    Preparing for a post-American world (part 1) Premium content

    How international governance can work even with a US-sized hole in it

    Workers position a large American flag using a crane. The flag is partially unfolded and billowing in the breeze.
  • Thursday, 24 April, 2025
    Free LunchTrump tariffs
    The case for Trump’s tariffs Premium content

    The arguments are believed more widely than the Maga camp, but that does not make them any more right

    A worker is seen installing an engine in a vehicle at an assembly plant in Indiana
  • Sunday, 20 April, 2025
    Arctic
    The weakening Arctic consensus is worrying

    In spite of rising diplomatic tensions, the most immediate geopolitical risk is not military conflict

    A scientists carries out research off the coast of Svalbard
  • Thursday, 10 April, 2025
    Free LunchTrump tariffs
    Donald Trump has had his first Liz Truss moment Premium content

    Unlike the doomed former British PM, the US president is not going anywhere — so uncertainty is here to stay

    A montage of pictures of Liz Truss and Donald Trump
  • Wednesday, 9 April, 2025
    ReviewNon-Fiction
    Five books to boost your understanding of tariffs and trade wars

    As tariffs escalate, FT specialists recommend titles that explain the forces and ideas shaping trade policy in recent decades, including President Trump’s trade war

    A view at dusk or early morning looking down over trucks waiting at a container terminal
  • Sunday, 6 April, 2025
    Digital currencies
    The battle for the global payments system is under way

    Some Europeans are looking to the next geoeconomic contest

    euro banknotes
  • Thursday, 3 April, 2025
    Free LunchGerman economy
    Germany’s long slog out of stagnation Premium content

    Breaking out of fiscal restraints is not by itself enough to recover the country’s economic mojo

    Shoppers walk through a bustling market in Nuremberg, Germany, lined with red and white striped stalls
  • Monday, 31 March, 2025
    The Economics Show podcast32 min listen
    Can Germany escape its economic doldrums? With Ulrike Malmendier

    The loosening of Germany’s ‘debt brake’ raises hope for faster growth

  • Thursday, 27 March, 2025
    Free LunchEuropean economy
    What’s the point of fiscal rules? Premium content

    Don’t let the budget rule tail wag the democratic dog

    The Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, is illuminated at night. The German flag flies atop the structure, and the glass dome is visible in the background.
  • Sunday, 23 March, 2025
    EU defence
    How to create a true common market for defence

    Even Eurosceptics and Britain-bashers should acknowledge the advantage of smooth weaponry supply chains

    European leaders discuss future peace in Ukraine
  • Thursday, 20 March, 2025
    Free LunchRussian assets
    Europe is about to make its biggest strategic mistake Premium content

    Control over Moscow’s blocked foreign reserves empowers the EU to shape how the Ukraine war ends

    A woman crouches on the damaged rooftop of a village school as she picks up a piece of shrapnel from a Shahed drone amid the rubble and debris from a recent bombing
  • Thursday, 20 March, 2025
    EU defence
    Poland and UK discuss defence spending as Europe moves to re-arm

    Finance minister Andrzej Domański calls for smarter funding as continent moves to bolster its military power

    Soldiers from Poland and Britain stand in front of tanks at the Warsaw Armoured Brigade in Warsaw, Poland
  • Thursday, 13 March, 2025
    Free LunchEU defence
    Europe, stronger together Premium content

    With wise policy, rearmament can for once be a source of unity rather than division

    Technicians work on assembling a Leopard battle tank at the Rheinmetall facility in Germany
  • Sunday, 9 March, 2025
    German economy
    Berlin’s about-turn can get Europe more bang for the buck

    Even Germany’s frugal friends are undergoing policy and sentiment shifts

    Leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz
  • Thursday, 6 March, 2025
    Free LunchEU defence
    Making Europe’s defence spending great again Premium content

    Where there is a will (to boost military capabilities), there is a way

    A camouflaged Leopard 1 tank is seen on a dirt path through a grassy area in Storkau, Germany.
  • Thursday, 27 February, 2025
    Free LunchWar in Ukraine
    Can Europe go it alone on Russia sanctions? Premium content

    Washington’s coercive economic diplomacy is undergoing massive change

    The facade of Russia's central bank headquarters in Moscow, framed by ornate black ironwork
  • Sunday, 23 February, 2025
    US foreign policy
    Europe should be flattered by Maga’s attacks

    A central goal of Trump’s henchmen is to defang the EU’s regulatory power for the benefit of American Big Tech

    United States Vice-President JD Vance addresses the audience during the Munich Security Conference
  • Thursday, 20 February, 2025
    Free LunchEU business regulation
    Myths of Europe’s overregulation Premium content

    Remember the good as well as the bad and the ugly

    A close-up image of a plastic bottle with a green tethered cap, which is open but remains attached to the bottle. The cap features a recycling symbol
  • Monday, 17 February, 2025
    News in-depthThe Economics Show podcast42 min listen
    The real Russian economy. With Sergei Guriev

    How long can Russia fund a war in Ukraine?

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