News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, May 1, 2025
The G7 group of countries vowed to deny Russia the benefits of most-favoured nation treatment it currently enjoys in the World Trade Organization. This move could be followed by further announcements by other WTO members in the coming days and weeks.
Russia is pushing back against the sweeping economic sanctions imposed on it by Western nations and some of their allies in the Asia-Pacific following its military attack on Ukraine. This is already having a chilling effect on further ambitions in Brussels to target Russia’s economic interests. Moscow is also piqued …
The European Union might very soon have its long-awaited ‘international procurement instrument’ as trilogue negotiations appear to be closing in.
The European Union’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization João Aguiar Machado confirmed that Brussels was preparing to unilaterally rescind Russia’s most-favoured-nation rights enjoyed as part of its membership of the global institution.
Ukraine notified the World Trade Organization that it was applying a full trade embargo on Russia and no longer implementing the rules of the institution to Russia. Kyiv has also called on other members of the world trade body to do the same. It also wants Russia to be suspended …
Amidst all the shattering economic and financial sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has not imposed restrictions on imports of Russian goods so far. But neighbouring Belarus is probably about to see a de facto embargo on all its headline exports to the EU. …
Trilogue negotiations on the long-awaited international procurement instrument are “advancing very well”, a French presidency source recently assured Borderlex. But whether France’s ambition to get the piece of legislation finalised by the end of March – i.e. in four weeks’ time – can be met still remains to be seen. …
The coming hours will be critical in defining how the European Union will react to Russia’s ruthless and bloody attack on Ukraine. At the time of writing this article, Thursday late evening, it is becoming clear that as heads of state gather in Brussels, the announced economic and financial sanctions …
The United States will soon announce plans for an Indo-Pacific economic framework as part of its new strategy for the region. Europeans have also developed their own Indo-Pacific strategies. There is scope for transatlantic cooperation on trade and economic issues of common interest. Asia Society’s Wendy Cutler shares some thoughts …
Businesses from Australia, India, Japan, Korea and the United States are not necessarily the main targets of the European Union’s new foreign subsidies regulation. But representatives from these countries’ business sectors, some of them among the top investors in the EU, are raising alarm bells about some procedural issues raised …
