News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Today EU member states gathered around the Commission to take stock of various free trade agreement files. Here a run through what we have gathered at the foreign affairs Council and during the past week in Brussels. EU Mercosur and EU Mexico free trade negotiations “We are now entering …
There is intensive lobbying by European sugar beet growers against the prospect of widening of EU quotas for non EU cane sugar as part of ongoing bilateral free trade negotiations. Yet it might only be a matter of time until the EU allows more import of cane sugar from outside …
The three EU institutions are trying to hammer out an agreement among themselves to finalise a 2013 reform package of the EU’s trade defence instruments that aims to make the EU more reactive and transparent in this policy area. The Council, led by the Estonian presidency of the EU, …
The twenty-eight page bill tabled by Britain’s secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox to the House of Commons on Tuesday (7 November 2017) in London has met with some consternation among observers: it says very little about Britain’s plans for trade outside the EU. “There seems almost …
The EU and Mexico are holding technical talks this week ahead of a formal new round of negotiations later this month. The pressure is on both sides to conclude talks to modernise their 2000 trade agreement – which is folded into what is known as the Global Agreement. Significant challenges …
EU health and safety measures for food products were a key focus of a meeting at the World Trade Organization in Geneva on Monday (06 November 2017). MC11 flop on Maximum Residue Levels The meeting of the WTO committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures examined a United States …
If last week was quiet in Brussels on trade, this week will be overloaded with trade policy meetings. A new round of EU Mercosur free trade negotiations is taking place in Brasilia this week. Mercosur will also be central to the agriculture and fisheries Council meeting held today …
Work on future trade policy in the Department for International Trade in London appears to have geared up in recent months, shortly after the arrival of Crawford Falconer as new permanent secretary in charge of overseeing trade negotiations at the end of the summer 2017. A hearing in the House …
The European Commission released a report on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, a pot of public money set up ten years ago to help workers in distressed sectors retrain and find new jobs. The press announcement states proudly that this report proves the fund’s “effectiveness”. In 2015 and 2016, …
It’s going to be a quiet week in Brussels with the All Saints holiday in the middle of the week (Wednesday 1 November 2017) and most policy people on holiday. Agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan will be in Dublin talking to the dairy industry this week, and meeting Britain’s agriculture …
