“Negotiations were difficult but ultimately fruitful”, concluded Donald Tusk after Tuesday’s European Union-China summit in Brussels. The two sides achieved their main objective for their meeting, namely to come up with a joint statement that is meaningful enough to EU capital and commits both sides to specific actions. “In today’s …
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WTO report on Russia-Ukraine transit to test future of trading system
Russia and the United States rarely agree on anything in global politics. But Washington was the only World Trade Organization member that supported Moscow in a highly-politicised legal argument at the organisation’s dispute settlement body that many see as entailing systemic ramifications for the multilateral trading system.
Week Ahead in EU Trade: China, Korea, Japan, steel anti-dumping, Airbus
This week it’s China that will be mainly in focus on the EU’s trade agenda. Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström will travel to South Korea and Japan to take stock of trade relations. In Geneva, the work of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body will resume having been interrupted over …
Week in Brussels: Australia and New Zealand FTAs, Cambodian textiles, US-Japan-EU trilateral
This week was dominated by news on European trade defence policy and by a shift in sentiment in Britain over a customs union with the EU – with ramifications for the Department for International Trade. Other bits of news below. EU-Australia negotiations: third round The EU and Australia held a …
EU anti-dumping policy: Less defensive, more offensive
There has been a lot of talk about EU trade defence policy recently. The focus is on the EU’s recent steel safeguard measures. In Brussels and some member states such as France, Italy, and increasingly in Germany, the public discussion focuses on the ‘defence’ aspect of the EU’s trade remedies …
More WTO members announce retaliation against EU steel safeguards
The European Union introduced a safeguard against imports of steel last January. The move was made in response to the United States import restrictions on steel under Section 232 in 2018 and aims to avoid the European market from being flooded by metal diverted away from North America. But Brussels’ …
EU sues India and Turkey at WTO over tariffs and intellectual property violations
The European Union is suing India over recent tariff increases above its bound rates in the World Trade Organization. Brussels is also filing a case against Turkey due to what the EU thinks is WTO-inconsistent treatment of its pharmaceutical companies. India tariffs Since 2014, India has been gradually increasing import …
Week ahead in EU trade: EU-US, China, Chile, Tunisia, E-commerce
April could see a slowdown in decision-making in trade policy in Brussels. But this does not mean there will be less anxiety over two major files: EU-US trade relations and Brexit. In April we will also see new developments on EU-Chile and EU-Tunisia trade negotiations and on e-commerce. Continued EU-US, …
A week in Brussels: Brexit, IPI, where is the Vietnam FTA?
So, dear friends, we are going into a week-end with the United Kingdom ready to default into a no-deal Brexit on 12 April. Or most likely there will be a long extension of its EU membership, and potentially general (and European) elections…. This week was dominated by wrangles between France …
Comment: We won, both losers said
If it weren’t for the amounts of money involved in the case and in the fifteen-year-old legal saga, one could dismiss the triumphant statements made by the European Union and the United States after yesterday’s Appellate Body ruling as childish boasting. What’s important now for the future viability of the …
