News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Monday, April 28, 2025
There was no joint statement of any sort after Xi Jinping, Li Kequiang, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen hosted a lengthy online summit today. Instead, we were issued a statement from the European Union leaders on what the bloc wants to see from China over the next months. …
EU China Summit This week will start big, with an EU-China summit kicking off this morning. The meeting will be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping himself, the Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen and the Council’s boss Charles Michel to take stock of an increasingly complex and controversial relationship …
It’s been quite a week in terms of trade news, with the launch of an EU healthcare initiative with the WTO’s Ottawa Group meeting and new plans to control foreign subsidies of companies operating in Europe. Below some other notable news. UK talks: European Parliament talks tough on LPF and …
The European Commission’s 2020 edition of its annual report on trade and investment barriers faced by European firms in international markets is written in an unusually alarmist tone. The report takes stock of barriers as reported by European companies. “At the end of 2019, 438 active trade and investment barriers …
The Commission unveiled long-awaited plans to weed out foreign companies investing in Europe that benefit from subsidies from their home government which could distort competition in the European Union’s single market. The fundamental aim is to have foreign operators broadly comply with the EU’s stringent state aid regime. The move …
For those interested in the issue of whether invoking national security lets WTO members get away with not complying with the multilateral trade rule-book, the institution’s second panel report on this issue released today in Geneva might give you some guidance: national security is not a free-for-all. A first report …
The European Union tabled a “concept paper” on health to a group of like-minded World Trade Organization members called the Ottawa Group. The EU aims to avoid medical supply shortages as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in similar situations in future. But it didn’t get the traction it had hoped …
Eurostat released first estimates of European Union trade in goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The figures are staggering as expected, with extra EU-27 exports falling by 28.2% and exports by 22.7% in April 2020 alone compared to the same month last year. If one compares the trade performance cumulated over …
All EU institutions are singing from the same hymn sheet after requests came in last week from business groups to postpone the enactment of new tariffs due in August on one fifth of Cambodian exports. The message is the following: We are sorry COVID-19 let to 150.000 people losing their …
Australia’s plain packaging rules okayed by Appellate Body A brief note on the fact that the Appellate Body, as expected, upheld a panel ruling that confirmed Australia’s right to impose plain packaging – i.e. remove branding – on cigarette packs. This week’s ruling will have systemic implications also for food …
