News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
The European Union will very soon have a revamped ‘enforcement regulation’, a hitherto hardly known legal instrument that allows the bloc to retaliate against countries contravening international trade norms and not cooperating in legal disputes and thus protect itself against ‘appeals into the void’ at the World Trade Organization. The …
The three World Trade Organization ambassadors who act as facilitators in the selection process for the next leader of the international trade institution announced today that in their view Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria had garnered the widest support. At an informal Heads of Delegation meeting today, the assessment made by …
A selection of new developments at the WTO. EU delays decision on WTO director-general EU member states were supposed to decide today which of the two finalists for the WTO’s top job they would back. But the relevant TPC meeting in Brussels was postponed for another day, to let member …
There is nothing ‘new’ to report from three days of meetings of WTO ambassadors this week under the format of an ‘Informal TNC’ and a ‘General Council’. As usual, the large powers have spent time bickering over ‘market oriented conditions’, ‘special and differential treatment’ for developing countries, dispute settlement, agriculture, …
Updated on 13 October 2020 at 18.11 CET. The European Union may retaliate against the United States following damage to Airbus’ sales of aircraft to prospective clients from government subsidies to Boeing. The amount of annual trade that may be covered by EU retaliation is US $ 3.99 billion.
A vote on a low-key European Parliament report this week turned into a major battle over the direction of trade policy in a post COVID-19 world. It worked as a catalyst, revealing growing rifts reaching right into the political centre-ground on European trade politics in a turbulent time. Green goals …
The EU’s two preferred candidates to become the next WTO director-general are expected to make it into the final round of ‘confessionals’. A formal announcement is expected by the WTO on Thursday. But as expected, the names of the two favourite candidates, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala from Nigeria and Yoo Myung-hee …
If you think that, because Valdis Dombrovski’s nomination to become the next trade commissioner of the EU was relatively smooth sailing in the European Parliament, MEPs will make life easy for him, you are mistaken. A group of MEPs had amendments successfully adopted in a plenary vote on Tuesday (6 …
Valdis Dombrovskis is expected to receive the assent of the European Parliament to take on a new role as commissioner for international trade at a vote in plenary on Wednesday morning (7 October 2020). Although it’s never a done deal – the Parliament’s Conference of Presidents has “made a final …
The European Commission circulated a paper to European Union member states on how it wants to approach ‘trade and sustainability’ in the World Trade Organization ahead of a member state meeting on the topic held on Monday. The key message: let’s go slow on trade and environment in the world …
