Internship Spotlight: Nina Engel – Delegation of the European Union to Canada

This summer I had the incredible opportunity to intern at the European Delegation to Canada in the Trade and Economics section, thanks to donor of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund. As an Economics student, my interest lies in the intersection of economics and diplomacy, and this experience allowed me to reinforce my interest to pursue a career in this field.

Interning at the EU Delegation to Canada gave me the opportunity to discover the world of public diplomacy, which is something I have been deeply interested in. My primary learning objective during this internship was to enrich my comprehension of trade dynamics between the EU and Canada and to understand how different public authorities play a key role in those.

The mission of the EU delegation to Canada is to foster relationships between European and Canadian stakeholders. In this task, the Delegation engages with authorities from both regions on a diverse range of topics. The Delegation has a Trade and Economics section (TES), a Political, Press and Information section (PPI), and an administrative section. Those three sections work hand in hand to achieve the Delegation’s mission. The main role of the TES section is to promote trade relations between the EU and Canada, which therefore leads to engagement with European and Canadian companies, as well as respective government officials to allow those relations to flourish. The trade relationship between the EU and Canada is covered by the Free trade agreement CETA, which eliminates 99% of tariffs between all EU Member states and Canada. Since 2017, when CETA first came into application, bilateral trade has increased by 71% between the two regions.

As an intern in the TES section, my main responsibilities were contributing to reports related to trade activities, covering a variety of topics. During my internship, I also worked on factsheets covering the trade relations between each EU country and Canada. To develop these factsheets, I worked with data from Eurostat (the database of the European Commission) covering trade in goods, services and investments. From that data, I calculated the evolution of trade in these sectors from 2017 until 2024. This included doing graphs and tables on excel. These factsheets aim to promote the extensive trade relationship between EU countries and Canada.

My classes provided me with a very solid background knowledge on various trade issues. My micro and macroeconomics background allowed me to be familiar with various topics discussed during meetings at the Delegation and with officials. Additionally, my background in Statistics and Econometrics is what allowed me to work with trade data. Skills such as synthesized writings developed during my academic journey were also very helpful.

The most valuable experiences of my internship were engaging with colleagues from the Delegation. Working in such a multicultural environment, with individuals coming from different parts of Canada and different European countries was extremely rewarding. They were all eager to share their knowledge and give me valuable advice, not only to succeed in my internship but also for the future, both academically and professionally. The professional relationships created during my time at the Delegation were truly the highlight of my summer.

Certainly, this internship did not come without its challenges. Writing reports on technical matters, such as on trade disputes between the EU and Canada, was a challenge. Indeed, it is necessary to explain complex matters in the shortest and clearest way possible, which can be hard in the beginning. Working with large data bases on trade was also a challenge at first, specifically since this was a platform I had not used before. However, through the help of colleagues, I was able to overcome these hurdles. For this internship, I am receiving academic credit and will write a research paper in the field of international trade disputes, with Prof. Ling Ling Zhang as my supervisor.

This internship allowed me to be more confident in my academic and career choices. Enjoying my work at the Delegation, it further reinforced my interests and confirmed that public diplomacy is a field I would like to work in the future. The generous support of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund allowed me to relocate to Ottawa for this 3-month internship, which I am incredibly thankful for. I would also like to thank everyone at the Delegation for welcoming me with such open arms this summer, making me feel part of the team as soon as I started, and giving me valuable advice.