News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
It’s not going to be a relaxed rentrée in Brussels. The policy world will jolt into frenetic activity ahead of a packed autumn – the last autumn of the current European Commission and European Parliament. While most of us were on holiday, some European Commission officials have started to prepare …
The United Kingdom government has released more than 20 notices offering guidance to British businesses on what to do ahead of a possible failure of its withdrawal negotiations with the EU. It has also revealed some contingency plans to avoid an excessively damaging halt to essential services such as financial …
Not much came out of today’s press point today by Michel Barner and Dominic Raab, the EU’s and UK’s chief Brexit negotiators. But work is clearly acccelerating behind the scenes towards a Brexit deal in the coming months as the UK fine-tunes its financial services stance and views on protection …
The policy world is getting back to work comparatively early in August this year. Some serious meetings and talks are being held this week on transatlantic trade relations and on Brexit.
The nomination of Dominic Raab as the UK’s new Brexit secretary and the recent take-over of the talks by the Prime Minister in person are having an effect on the tone and substance of Britain’s withdrawal negotiations from the EU with Brussels.
The United Kingdom today formally circulated its first tariff schedule as a would-be standalone member of the World Trade Organization, independent from the European Union. WTO members have three months review the schedule and raise objections if necessary. The UK wants to have its own schedule ready ahead of Brexit …
An ‘orderly’ withdrawal of Britain from the European Union looks increasingly unlikely this summer. Unless both sides find a solution to the Irish border quickly, that is. Or politics in Britain change dramatically. Or the EU changes its approach. Or a bit of everything. Britain had hoped to resolve the Irish …
Things are starting to wind down on the trade front before the summer recess. Some news – or at least official remarks, if not tweets – can be expected from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Juncker will seek to sidestep …
It’s as if everything absolutely had to happen before everyone goes on holiday: inking a deal with Japan, holding a summit with China that actually delivers on a joint statement, launching a WTO reform initiative, introducing steel safeguards, slapping dumping duties on electric bikes and making progress on Mercosur negotiations. …
The EU and Japan signed their long-awaited economic partnership agreement in Tokyo today. The deal was flanked by announcements that both sides had finalised work to recognise each other’s data privacy regimes – also called ‘adequacy decisions’ – to complement the trade agreement. The moves were well received in policy …
