News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Sunday, May 4, 2025
After a long All-Saints week-end, this early November week begins in a rush. The focus will be on legislative work in Brussels, which will be overshadowed by developments in the United States. President Trump has announced new sanctions on Iran today, one day before mid-term elections. The Iran move is …
The European Commission released a report on the implementation of its free trade agreements. While the report confirms that trade tends to increase under a bilateral preferential accord, not every aspect of a trade deal functions the way it should.
The United Kingdom recently finalised consultations with stakeholders on a bilateral free trade agreement negotiation it intends to launch on leaving the European Union next March. Some business groups are starting to reveal what input they provided to the Department for International Trade. One such report was released by techUK, …
The World Trade Organization’s major trading powers blocked each others’ requests for dispute settlement panels on disputes that are likely to shape the future of the world trading system, deferring their resolution to a future date. Monday’s DSB meeting in Geneva however allowed members to hear in detail US objections …
It’s school holiday week in Brussels, so we expect few meetings there in the coming days. But there is still loads happening in the background. EU and Chinese negotiators are meeting two days in an attempt to move forward on their bilateral investment agreement and other common files such as …
A comparatively ‘quiet’ week in Brussels on trade. The week was eventful on the WTO and multilateral trade front, with Section 232 steel and aluminium tariffs, Canada’s mini WTO reform summit, and the UK’s WTO tariff schedule dominating the headlines. Ottawa WTO meeting sets ball rolling on reform As expected, …
The United Kingdom failed in its goal to have its separate non-EU tariff schedule certified without objections by fellow World Trade Organization members as a deadline to do so passed today. Now London is preparing to formally renegotiate. “As expected, some trading partners have expressed reservations about our proposed treatment …
The US is threatening to levy high auto tariffs on EU firms via the Section 232 national security exception if Brussels does not agree to liberalise agriculture markets, several sources indicated to Borderlex. But how credible is that threat? And if the US gets real on this threat, in what form …
The EU’s safeguard measures on steel, introduced this summer to avoid deflection of pipes, wires and rods following Washington’s decision to impose 25% steel tariffs on national security grounds, is raising hackles with trading partners. Seven World Trade Organization members expressed their grievances in Geneva today against the bloc’s decision …
WTO focus Expect news this week on World Trade Organization issues. In Geneva, there will be a few special meetings on agriculture and on subsidies and countervailing measures that could indicate how much movement there really is on market access talks in the first and the ‘reform’ agenda driven by Western …
