News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Monday, May 5, 2025
There was a significant increase in investment policies that restrict foreign investments over the last six months, according to UNCTAD, the United Nations trade and investment policy advisory body. The period from November 2017 to February 2018 “saw a remarkable increase in investment restrictions or regulations”, UNCTAD’s latest Investment …
On Monday, seven World Trade Organization members raised concerns about the EU’s new Renewable Energy Directive during a goods committee meeting. In January, the European Parliament voted to ban palm oil from the bloc’s targets for consumption of renewable energy for transport by 2021, in a shift away from earlier …
It’s been a momentous week in EU trade. We had the Trump tariff exemption saga in Brussels, and the next phase of Brexit negotiations agreed today by the member states. For Brexit, we have in principle: a transitional period combined with relatively clean withdrawal terms, and initial guidelines for a …
EU free trade negotiations, ratifications and mandate releases have been on the slow lane recently compared to other trade policy files, as President Donald Trump and Brexit grab headlines and policymakers’ attention. Here’s an overview of where we are on the various files. Mercosur EU-Mercosur FTA negotiations are …
Signals coming from Washington indicate that the EU has been successful in landing an exemption from import tariffs on steel and tariffs asked for by President Donald Trump. According the US administration, these tariffs won’t kick in tomorrow as planned. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said these measures were a …
On Monday, the European Commission revealed that it had taken on board the United Kingdom’s request for help in asking third countries to continue to treat Britain as if it were an EU member state during the planned 21-month transition period after Brexit. The concession was included in a …
An informal understanding not to ramp up tensions in the World Trade Organization and an overture by Germany’s Peter Altmaier to the US on talking about trade tariffs indicate the EU and the rest of the world are trying to avoid a descent into tit-for-tat trade escalation as Washington readies …
European Union member states’ mandate to the European Commission to lead negotiations to establish a multilateral investment court look very different from the text the executive body tabled to them last September. What emerges clearly from the text: member states want full control of the process. Council members today …
The EU and the UK have agreed in principle on a transition period that would last from late March 2019 to late December 2020. During that period, in principle the whole EU acquis communautaire applies to Britain. That period will be used to negotiate the terms of the future EU-UK …
Japanese business groups want the EU and the UK to start working on rolling over the yet-to-be ratified EU-Japan free trade accord so that it also applies to Britain after Brexit. They also set out specific demands for the future EU-UK trade agreement. These demands echo origin rule requests by Britain’s …
