ECONOMY AND FINANCE NEOLIBERAL LOCK-IN Why Georgia-EU Free Trade Does Not Work Salome Topuria Tato Khundadze 2022 Georgia’s trade dynamics with the EU have not improved, even though it signed a Deep and Comprehen­sive Free Trade Agreement(DCFTA) in 2014. The Georgian export bas­ket deteriorated qualitatively since that time. Specifically, Georgia’s ex­port basket sophistication has de­creased, and the share of low-tech and resource-based products has increased. Moreover, Georgia’s ex­ports to the EU have become more concentrated. The EU does not pay enough attention to the local context of the signature country. The agreement often prop­agates those very discourses that got Georgia into a stagnant economic po­sition in the first place. Georgia needs a strong industrial pol­icy to increase export volume and upgrade the export basket. It should choose a‘Pick the Winner’ strategy and design a plan to support industry lead­ers in boosting export. State support should be based on the‘export disci­pline’ instrument.