News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Sunday, June 15, 2025
We had the trade wars. Now we have COVID-19. The collapse in cross-border trade is now firmly with us. The situation provides macabre joy to the non-humanist corners of Europe’s environmentalist and globalist movements. It certainly won’t be joyful to those who already see what negative economic growth and disrupted …
The WTO’s regular global trade forecast released today deserves special attention as it tries to grapple with the as yet hard-to-quantify impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic growth and on trade. Trade is always disproportionately negatively affected by economic shocks compared to global output. And this time is …
It’s been a week full of hoo haa around EU US agriculture trade. The EU put a bit of antidumping into its digital strategy. The European Parliament ratified the EU-UK withdrawal agreement on Wednesday and offered a moving good-bye ceremony to Britons. In London, Union Jack flags are being waved …
Tired of gloomy trade news? Let’s have some fun today. Here four numbers worth playing around with this week. 750 000 000 That’s the number of US $ worth of economic output Italy alone could lose should the United States close off its market to German autos and parts. The …
It comes as little surprise that the World Trade Organization expects global merchandise trade to continue decelerating in the coming months – but it’s bad news, nonetheless. Mounting trade tensions, tighter credit conditions in key markets and waning business confidence have caused export orders to fall, the WTO said in …
Despite what World Trade Organization head Roberto Azevêdo calls “substantial risks that threaten the world economy”, WTO members including the EU introduced fewer trade-restricting measures in the 12 months through mid-October. Governments imposed measures such as new or higher tariffs, customs procedures, quotas and local content requirements an average of …
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, …
In a new report, the Commission singled out Russia, India and Switzerland as sources of new barriers to European traders and investors in 2017, while it claimed success in contributing to the removal of various barriers, notably in South Korea and China. The report is the seventh of such nature based on the Commission’s Market …
US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross recently rejected claims the United States was becoming more protectionist as “rubbish”. He also said of his country: “We are the least protectionist of the major [economic] areas”. The US government is currently reviewing some trading partners’ trade practices. It wishes to launch bilateral trade …
The World Trade Organisation released its annual bout of trade statistics and forecasts today. Clearly, the data show that the global slump in trade growth persists, despite prospects for a mild recovery. World trade posted a 1.3 percent expansion in 2016, lower than the 1.7 percent forecast by the …
