News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
The European Free Trade Association expects to sign a free trade agreement with Ecuador as well as an expanded accord with Turkey this year. Negotiations will continue with India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, while talks with the Latin American Mercosur bloc that began in 2017 will also move ahead in …
With Easter approaching it’s been a comparatively quiet week in Brussels, although behind the scenes there is a lot of work on dealing with the United States’ protectionist “extortion”, as so many call it. There are preparations for the next phase of Brexit negotiations and there’s been work hammering out …
There was a significant increase in investment policies that restrict foreign investments over the last six months, according to UNCTAD, the United Nations trade and investment policy advisory body. The period from November 2017 to February 2018 “saw a remarkable increase in investment restrictions or regulations”, UNCTAD’s latest Investment …
On Monday, seven World Trade Organization members raised concerns about the EU’s new Renewable Energy Directive during a goods committee meeting. In January, the European Parliament voted to ban palm oil from the bloc’s targets for consumption of renewable energy for transport by 2021, in a shift away from earlier …
EU leaders will be in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Varna today to meet with Turkish counterparts including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is hoping to hear some good news about plans to begin technical talks on their bilateral customs union. He’s likely to be disappointed. And US tariffs on goods …
It’s been a momentous week in EU trade. We had the Trump tariff exemption saga in Brussels, and the next phase of Brexit negotiations agreed today by the member states. For Brexit, we have in principle: a transitional period combined with relatively clean withdrawal terms, and initial guidelines for a …
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 …
Russia has largely lost its appeal of a World Trade Organization ruling that faulted dumping duties on certain Italian and German light commercial vehicles. Today’s Appellate Body ruling means Moscow must remove the levies or face possible retaliation by the European Union. The case marked the first time a …
Signals coming from Washington indicate that the EU has been successful in landing an exemption from import tariffs on steel and tariffs asked for by President Donald Trump. According the US administration, these tariffs won’t kick in tomorrow as planned. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said these measures were a …
An informal understanding not to ramp up tensions in the World Trade Organization and an overture by Germany’s Peter Altmaier to the US on talking about trade tariffs indicate the EU and the rest of the world are trying to avoid a descent into tit-for-tat trade escalation as Washington readies …
