News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
The week is far from over at the time of writing, but it’s still time to send out our regular Friday “Week in Brussels” column, as there is plenty of material already. The EU quarter of Brussels has been in total lockdown for several days as heads of government from …
The European Commission sent the EU-Vietnam free trade and investment agreements to member states and the European Parliament today. So what happens next? And will the trade pact come into force in 2019? It’s clearly not a done deal. In principle, an international agreement is sent to member states only …
The EU recently initiated steps to remove trade preferences reserved for the world’s poorest countries that were granted to Cambodia and Myanmar. One wonders: is this the right policy course? The policy would lead to the potential laying off of thousands of workers in apparel factories. These have been sprouting …
There’s been a little bit of noise this week on EU trade files in relation to Asia. So here a short update.
It’s been an eventful week in Brussels, culminating with the ongoing European Council – which we will cover separately. The fear of US tariffs on autos, that the multilateral trading system will unravel and China, and frustrations at the slow pace of Brexit negotiations (here and here) have all dominated …
After the European Commission and member states agreed this spring to accelerate the pace of internal procedures to get the EU-Japan and EU-Singapore free trade agreements ratified, the Vietnam pact concluded in 2015 was largely seen as set aside. But there’s movement to try to approve the deal before European …
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 …
There’s about one year to go before its top leadership gets renewed. Yet the European Commission risks missing out on the early harvest it reaped in its free trade agreement negotiations with ASEAN members in the first years of this legislature, writes Iana Dreyer. The EU’s executive is trying …
Some people are getting impatient about the slow pace of ratification of the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement that was inked in 2015. Now, Vietnam and the European Commission are pointing fingers at each other over the delay. The ‘legal scrubbing’ of the trade deal has dragged on for more …
It’s going to be a packed week in Brussels, with everything from continuing trade talks with Mercosur and Indonesia and a new round of Brexit negotiations. And the European Parliament’s trade committee will also have a couple of busy days this week. EU, Indonesia to exchange tariff offers …
