As many people in the policy world are taking time off between Easter and the many holidays coming up in May, it’s been a good week to reflect on the state of the world – and of the trading system. We are likely to face very rocky times indeed. For …
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Brussels summit: EU and Japan to work on cyber, e-commerce and multilateralism
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe reaffirmed his country’s commitment to multilateralism during a summit with European Union leaders ahead of a visit to Washington on Friday. He is also enlisting the EU in his government’s new digital initiatives. Japan is chairing the G20 this year – and is enrolling Europeans …
Week in Brussels: Chile, Cuba, Indonesia
EASTER BREAK: Borderlex journalists also need a break. So we will be off taking a rest for a few days, and back reporting and commenting on European Union trade policy next Tuesday. Happy Easter! What else happened this week in EU trade? EU could challenge new US-Cuba measures at WTO …
EU spending its €20billion worth of tariffs on aircraft instead of autos?
The length of the list of United States products the European Commission released on Wednesday (17 April) for governments and businesses to consider as possible targets for retaliatory tariffs appeared surprisingly long to some trade observers. The list was released in response to the WTO’s recent finding that Washington had …
Member states want to be consulted ahead of any EU-US negotiation suspension
The Council’s negotiating directives to the European Commission aim to ease the way towards negotiations with the United States on elimination of tariffs on goods and on conformity assessment. But will they make life easier for transatlantic negotiators? Not really. Member states mainly made amendments to the mandate on elimination …
Week ahead in EU trade: EU-US
Policy makers are clearly winding down for Easter: there aren’t many official meetings or trade agreement negotiating rounds to look ahead to during the next two weeks. MEPs are gathering for a last plenary session in Strasbourg ahead of elections next month to pass a very long list of pieces …
Week in Brussels: Russian WTO steel case against EU, procurement reciprocity, Korean labour
China and EU-US trade relations dominated the news this week. Here’s a selection of what else happened. EU to face new Russian WTO complaint over steel anti-dumping duties This week in Geneva, Russia requested a panel in a dispute filed in February 2017 against the EU’s anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled …
Cambodian rice producers sue European Union over rice safeguards
In January 2019, the European Union reintroduced restrictive quotas on imports of rice from Cambodia and Myanmar following a complaint from Italy that these were harming its own rice growers. Cambodian rice farmers won’t just let that pass. So-called Indica rice from the two countries is now subject to a …
In brief: EU ambassadors agree to adopt EU US negotiation mandates
It’s not entirely clear France is on board plans to greenlight negotiations on goods trade liberalisation with the United States. But after redrafting the text tabled by the European Commission last January to accommodate the French, capitals are now ready to go ahead with giving the commission the green light …
Blog: Are Airbus-related US tariffs revenge for Boeing or standard operating procedure?
“Maybe it’s just another opportunity for President Trump to impose tariffs”, Chad Bown from the Peterson Institute of Economics tweeted in reference to the US’s decision to table tariffs on billions of Euros’ worth of European products. Robert McDougall, a former Canadian trade diplomat, retorted: “The announcement and eventual imposition …
