The United Kingdom’s new Brexit and related post-Brexit trade strategy has radicalised since Boris Johnson took over the country’s premiership this summer. The goal is to be outside the European Union on 1 November at any cost – including by superseding parliament — and to accelerate trade negotiations with Britain’s …
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Week Ahead: G7 fallout
G-summits, be they in their 7, 8 or 20 format, have always rung hollow. But the meeting of heads of state or government of the world’s richest countries held over the weekend in Biarritz, southern France, surpasses many in the scale of its emptiness.
EU tightens up its steel safeguard regarding developing countries
The European Commission announced a general tightening of its global steel safeguard on 14 August in the afternoon – in other words, when nearly everybody in Brussels and Geneva was on holiday. The timing of the announcement is not entirely innocent; had the measures been announced in September, there would …
Week in Brussels: The French, CETA and Mercosur, treating UK as EU, recess reminder
Dear readers, this is the last Week in Brussels column before our summer recess. The next Week in Brussels column will appear on 30 August 2019. We will publish very sparingly over the next two weeks due to the general recess period in relevant European and international trade institutions. Here …
Security and climate ‘exceptions’ make their way into EU FTAs
The EU is out there to secure a dense and reliable set of international rules for trade for itself in a time of severe crisis in the multilateral trading system and transatlantic relations. Among others, it is doing so by investing into its bilateral trade agreement strategy and adding new …
EU Chile negotiations: Keeping it technical
Negotiations to upgrade an existing free trade agreement between the European Union and Chile are proceeding at a gentle pace, with progress to note in areas such as services.
Week and month ahead: Slow motion in the policy world
The agendas of most institutions relevant to our readers are empty or almost empty, be they related to ‘comitology’ meetings at the Council in Brussels, the European and national parliaments, the WTO, or the European Commission.
Week in Brussels: trade defence, Polish perspective on Mercosur
We may be deep into a hot summer but it’s not entirely quiet yet on the European Union trade front. In fact it looks like the European Commission is busy wrapping up what it can before August.
EU and Canada establish bilateral appellate ‘body’ within the WTO
“Canada and the EU are proud to have demonstrated leadership in the creation of this interim arrangement”, reads a joint statement by Ottawa and Brussels released today (25 July). Will this be the first in a further series of ad hoc bilateral arrangements World Trade Organization members will establish to …
EU hopes for veterinary deal with US in 2020-2021
The latest progress report the European Commission released today (25 July) on the state of the bilateral conversation on trade policy with the United States reads like a political and business ‘pitch’ to Washington and European audiences more than anything else. Yet it offers some clues on where the two …
