News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, May 2, 2025
This week the news focus has been on WTO, China and Brexit. Here some other interesting bits of Brussels trade news for you. US auto tariffs: Habeck says EU retaliation should target digital, airlines In an interview with the leading German business daily Handelsblatt this week, Robert Habeck, one of …
Palm oil growers have signalled they could take the European Union to the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body over its new biofuels regulation. The EU is preparing a definitive version of a ‘delegated act’ pertaining to its new Renewable Energy Directive that sets the environmental criteria required for biofuels …
Geneva officials are busy with meetings at the World Trade Organization. Ahead of Friday’s General Council meeting where we can expect a big showdown on all things Appellate Body and WTO ‘reform’, here a short update on some other committee meetings held so far this week. The focus was Brexit …
Two items are likely to focus minds this week: the state of the World Trade Organization and China. WTO: developing country ‘graduation’ The WTO is hosting a few important meetings this week. Today the dispute settlement body is convening. Around 45 WTO members will ask that the WTO proceed with …
This week’s special focus has been transatlantic trade negotiations (here and here) and Brexit-related British trade policy (here, here, here). But we also got an update on EU Taiwan relations. Below other noteworthy news or updates. Brazil retaliates against EU steel safeguards We are facing another episode in the global steel trade …
Member state trade ministers gathered in the Romanian capital Bucharest today to take stock of current European Union trade files. The most pressing issue on the table was the EU-US trade relationship. But capitals also discussed the way forward for the World Trade Organization and other bilateral trade files. Despite …
The European Commission’s 2015 Trade For All strategy promised Taiwan a bilateral investment agreement. Almost four years on, there is no sign of any such deal. There was indeed one caveat in trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström’s promise to Taipei: a similar deal with Beijing needed concluding first. Yet the conclusion of …
European Union relations with Switzerland are not exactly the easiest at the moment. Following significant political pressure on Bern, the two sides concluded a new agreement last December setting up an overarching framework to their complex maze of bilateral agreements that cover areas ranging from trade to judicial cooperation. But …
MEPs in the international trade committee voted today on a report that will help guide member states of the European Union decide whether to launch trade negotiations with the United States.
