News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Like the proverbial nail in the coffin, the US announcement this week that it would not back the reappointment of Appellate Body member Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing may signal the end of the World Trade Organization’s highest court as we know it. As one trade lawyer put it, the Appellate …
After Cecilia Malmström briefed MEPs on the July meeting between US President Donald Trump and the European Commission’s chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Parliament made clear that it wanted a say in the negotiation process that is now unfolding. The two sides are setting up an ‘executive working group’ that …
In Europe, the tendency is to bundle together or even mix up Australia and New Zealand, the two neighbouring Oceanian countries. In trade, the two sometimes add to the confusion by at times signing free trade agreements with third countries together, such as in 2009 with their neighbour ASEAN. The …
The European Parliament’s international trade committee is examining a new regulation tabled by the European Commission aimed at streamlining the way safeguards are negotiated with current bilateral free trade agreement partners. The legislation would apply to the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, to the EU-Singapore FTA and to the EU-Vietnam FTA. …
The EU and the US clashed this week over a sensitive World Trade Organization Appellate Body compliance ruling. Last May, WTO judges said the EU continued to violate its WTO obligations in relation to launch aid for the Airbus aircraft series A350 and A380. Ever since the ruling came out, …
In one month, the WTO’s Appellate Body will only have three members left. The United States blocked the reappointment of its latest outgoing member, Shree Babu Chekitan Servansing. Since 2016, Washington has been blocking the appointment of the seven-member body. The US argues that the WTO’s top judges are overstepping …
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 …
Turkey is definitely not playing chicken when it comes to standing up to US pressure. Ankara has responded to a US decision to double duties on Turkish steel and aluminium by raising its own tariffs on nearly two dozen American products, announcing a boycott of US electronics such as iPhones …
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.
Russia has lost its central argument in a four-year-old World Trade Organization complaint challenging the EU’s energy market laws: the right of the bloc to prevent a single company from owning both natural gas pipelines and distribution networks. The WTO ruled today that certain energy-supply measures imposed by the EU …
