The first ever ECA report on trade defence policy in the EU gives the Commission a clean slate in the way it handles its cases. But one most read the fine print and in between the lines : and then one cannot but be confronted with some disturbing questions. By …
Author: Iana Dreyer
WTO Corner: Fish calendar, unclear timelines on MC12, DDG and DDGs, Turkmenistan
WTO members try to stick to 2020 deadline for a fisheries deal The year 2020 was set as United Nations deadline to deliver on one of the Sustainable Development Goals on fish stocks. Despite all the difficulties in agreeing anything in the organisation and despite the delay to negotiations induced …
WTO Corner: negotiations, fish, investment facilitation, procurement
There is loads going on in the WTO this week: the end of the COVID-19 Geneva institution lockdown is on! Some meetings are still held online, though. There was a Trade Negotiation Committee meeting on Monday, there will be a General Council meeting over the next two days with a …
Turkey requests WTO panel in dispute with EU over steel safeguard
Turkey has decided to litigate. Earlier this year, Ankara requested consultations with the European Union as Brussels revised for the second time a contentious safeguard on steel imports introduced initially in 2018. The measures were taken in response to the United States’ decision back then to restrict imports of steel …
Week Ahead: US, China, UK, trilogues
The policy churn is expected to quiet down somewhat this week as we enter the third week of July with further risks of a spike of new COVID-19 cases: retreat to home and taking the opportunity to holiday is the new game in town – while we wait for a …
The WTO director-general candidates: what they offer
This week, the eight candidates to the post of director-general were auditioned by the ambassadors to the World Trade Organization.
Week in Brussels: trade dive, DG Trade reorganisation, Belgium, Irish protocol
This has been a heavy-duty week in EU trade, with the transatlantic relationship thrown in disarray by the new Court of Justice of the EU’s ruling on the EU-US Privacy Shield. Also the EU and India genuinely want to move on and established a High Level Dialogue. The European Commission …
EU business wants ‘positive agenda’ with US – as Schrems II throws new spanners in transatlantic works
Today’s judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidating the 2016 Privacy Shield in force with the United States is throwing further spans in the works of the increasingly tense transatlantic relationship. “Unfortunately, the impact on EU-US trade relations is going to be huge,” reckons Peter Chase, …
CPTPP + US: the emergence of a British trade policy strategy
The United Kingdom left the European Union with the explicit aim of having its own trade policy and agreements. Britain is in business now. The biggest challenge will be handling the domestic politics of farming, procurement, environment and devolution to make London’s emerging trade policy strategy bear fruit. London aims …
EU, India set up High-Level Dialogue to help unblock trade and investment impasse
The European Union and India decided today to upgrade their diplomatic relationships on a variety of fronts during a virtual bilateral summit between the Indian prime minister and the heads of the European Council and Commission. A bilateral ‘dialogue’ will be the main vehicle driving the process. The meeting between …