This chapter examines Regulation 2023/2675, known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), within the broader context of the European Union’s (EU) evolving trade policy and geopolitical aspirations. The ACI constitutes a departure from the EU’s traditional emphasis on facilitating trade towards a more assertive defence mechanism against economic coercion by third countries. Through an analysis of the regulatory design by means of a regulatory theory framework, the chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the ACI in deterring and countering economic coercion. Despite the ambition to project greater geopolitical clout, this contribution finds that Member States retain ultimate control over exerting geopolitical leverage, indicating a rather limited commitment to elevating the supranational EU into a self-standing actor. The paper suggests that while the ACI enhances the EU’s collective potential to act assertively, it does so by acting as a vehicle for the Member States to exert power through collaboration at the European level. The EU’s ability to enforce rules vis-à-vis third countries by using the ACI consequently depends on multi-level decision-making, and particularly on finding consensus between the actors involved. The ability to do so will in turn determine the instrument’s potential to help the Union develop into a more assertive geopolitical actor.