News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Valdis Dombrovskis will not take over the European Commission’s trade portfolio as a novice. But his tasks will be challenging. The former Latvian prime minister served as vice-president of the European Commission during the last political term in 2016, overseeing financial, Euro zone issues as well as investment. In this …
This is an unprecedented arrangement in the European Commission: an executive vice-president takes over the leadership of an entire Commission directorate, without a ‘proper commissioner’ taking over the job. Valdis Dombrovkis, who was entrusted the trade portfolio on an interim basis following the resignation of Phil Hogan late August, is …
Trade policy will now be used as leverage for EU’s Green Deal raw materials strategy. Accessing raw materials that are critical to its industry has been a long-standing goal of the European Union’s trade policy. But Brussels it is now moving up another gear in its quest for supply chain …
The European Parliament can’t wait to shape European Union-wide legislation on supply chain resilience and sustainability post COVID-19. Public opinion pressure on politicians has led France to introduce legislation obliging its multinational companies to observe due diligence in the area of human rights. About ten countries in the EU, including …
“A presidency is not a government,” quipped the German economy minister in an exchange of views with members of the European Parliament’s international trade committee on Thursday (3 September). Peter Altmeier, who further oversees Germany’s industrial and energy policy, also pointed out that rotating Council presidencies taking place in the …
This summer, the European Commission withdrew trade preferences granted to Cambodia. Cambodia benefited from duty-free-quota free trade under the EU’s Everything-But-Arms aimed at the world’s poorest countries. The partial withdrawal affects one fifth of the the South East Asian country’s garment and shoes exports. Despite calls this summer to take …
Today is Roberto Azevêdo’s last day in office as the director-general of the WTO. The Brazilian diplomat is leaving a tattered organisation rudderless as the two sparring big powers – US and EU – couldn’t agree last July on an interim leader chosen among the current four deputy-directors. The Four …
MPIA state of play EU appeals ‘into void’ in Russia anti-dumping dispute To many, the move will seem highly ironic. The EU is not pleased with a July WTO panel ruling regarding anti-dumping duties on ammonium nitrate and steel pipes in a case filed by Russia – so it is …
“Human mobility constitutes services trade in its own right, while also enabling trade in goods and other services,” reads a thought-piece on the impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on international trade put together by the secretariat of the World Trade Organization.
The conveners of the plurilateral e-commerce negotiations discreetly circulated a “stocktake” text on electronic commerce amongst World Trade Organization members at the height of the mid-August European heatwave. The e-commerce negotiations were launched among a subset of WTO members in February 2019 following a pledge at the last Buenos Aires …
