Changes in bilateral trade are associated with changes in competitiveness. Export performance depends on i) changes in production costs (in the exporting country), ii) changes in production costs of competitors, iii) overall global demand. Green energy transition entails both opportunities and pitfalls. On the one hand new markets emerge, related to the production of green energy equipment and green fuels, however, “traditional” sectors such as energy intensive productions (e.g., iron and steel, non-metallic minerals etc.), transport equipment are highly likely to decline. Trade protection measures, such as carbon border adjustments may compensate for competitiveness losses in domestic industries and alleviate negative impacts on their export performance (direct effect) but on the other hand tend to increase the average cost of intermediate inputs in the economy and exert upward pressure in the production cost of other sectors which in turn have negative implications for their export performance (second-order impact).