The seventeen participants to the Environmental Goods Agreement talks launched in 2014 are gathering for a fresh round in Geneva this week. The aim is to prepare the ground for a G20 meeting hosted by China in Hangzhou by which parties no longer hope to conclude the talks, but expect to …
Author: Iana Dreyer
In brief: EU Brazil deal over Croatia accession clinched after three years of EU membership
On Tuesday 19 July, Brazil and the EU clinched a deal in the WTO that expanded the South American bloc’s access to the EU market. After Croatia joined the EU in 2013, the country’s imports of products like beef and sugar were subject to higher tariffs and to stricter quotas. It …
Commission antidumping overhaul plans stirs mixed feelings
On Wednesday, the Commission announced it would no longer single out China in its antidumping duties ahead of a December 2016, deadline that it believes obliges it to drop it from the list of ‘non market economies’ that allow it to use a non WTO compliant methodology in calculating antidumping …
Post Brexit: UK’s Hammond courting China
The UK’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer Philipp Hammond is in Beijing to pitch the UK as an attractive investment destination post Brexit. Ahead of his trip Philip Hammond stated: “We have built a strong economic relationship with China and as Chinese investments into the UK continue to diversify and …
“Unravelling CETA” campaign in EU Parliament
A group of 8 MEPs from the centre and far left have launched a campaign against CETA called Unravelling CETA. The MEPs are from France, led by maverick French socialist Emmanuel Maurel, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Germany. The objectives of the campaign are not set out clearly, but the …
Study: Germans’ negative attitudes to TTIP related to EU-scepticism, not trade scepticism
The scale of the German population’s negative views of TTIP has surprised many. A recent survey by the Cologne-based economic think tank Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft has explored the following puzzle: Germans are as a general rules pro-free trade, but are sceptical of TTIP. How come? IW Köln’s economist Galina …
UK will need “statecraft at its best” on trade
London is slowly recovering from the shock and confusion created by the UK’s Brexit vote on 23 June. The UK wants to make good on newly appointed Prime Minister Theresa May’s promise to voters that “Brexit is Brexit”. The question now is: yes, but how? The process of thinking about what …
Sri Lanka on lengthy path to regain GSP Plus status
Since Sri Lanka has applied to regain its lost GSP Plus status. The government that came into power last year is aiming to break with the previous Rajapaska government’s track record on governance and human rights. After atrocities committed against the Tamil rebellion in 2009, the EU suspended the extra …
East African Community EPA signature delayed
The East African Community Economic Partnership Agreement will not be signed, as initially planned, this week in Nairobi on the sidelines of the Nairobi investment summit hosted by UNCTAD. The EPA was concluded in 2015. The EU member states have endorsed the deal in June 2016, so has the …
Jordan garment exporters to benefit from more flexible EU rules of origin
To help Jordan cope with a massive influx of refugees from Syria by integrating them in the local labour market and hiring them in dedicated special industrial zones, the EU will ease the conditions under which Jordan may export goods duty-free to the EU. The move was made official during …
