Welcome to the jungle. The title of a 1990s song by US rock group Guns ‘n’ Roses seems apt in the world that EU trade policy is facing this autumn. It is a world at risk of descending into lawlessness, where guns start to prevail over roses in the international …
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Week ahead in EU trade: Comitology, US, China, Energy Charter, Brexit
This week, member state envoys to Brussels are getting back to work as ‘comitology’ meetings start again after a long summer break. The trade agenda is packed. Trade policy ‘experts’ this week will hold meetings on the EU’s modernisation plans for the World Trade Organization and transatlantic trade relations. Neither …
A week in Brussels: Western Sahara, Thailand, EU trade budget
This week was largely dominated by the European Parliament’s work on trade, the transatlantic trade rift and the deepening crisis of the WTO’s Appellate Body. This is what we wrote about this week: The WTO Appellate Body crisis here and here Southern Africa and UK trade post Brexit State of …
Beyond Brussels: What next in WTO Appellate Body crisis?
Like the proverbial nail in the coffin, the US announcement this week that it would not back the reappointment of Appellate Body member Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing may signal the end of the World Trade Organization’s highest court as we know it. As one trade lawyer put it, the Appellate …
Week Ahead in EU trade: Parliament harnesses autumn trade challenges
It’s not going to be a relaxed rentrée in Brussels. The policy world will jolt into frenetic activity ahead of a packed autumn – the last autumn of the current European Commission and European Parliament. While most of us were on holiday, some European Commission officials have started to prepare …
Beyond Brussels: Turkey’s trade feud with US intensifies
Turkey is definitely not playing chicken when it comes to standing up to US pressure. Ankara has responded to a US decision to double duties on Turkish steel and aluminium by raising its own tariffs on nearly two dozen American products, announcing a boycott of US electronics such as iPhones …
Beyond Brussels: It’s not the ‘why’, but the ‘how’ of WTO reform that will prove tricky
Pretty much everyone seems to agree now that the World Trade Organization needs a facelift. However, there is anything but agreement on just how to do it.
Commentary: Italy’s new government risks undermining EU unity on trade and investment
Italy’s new coalition government is pushing a protectionist agenda that puts national sovereignty at the centre and may well set the country on a collision course with Brussels, Berlin and Paris, argues Nicola Casarini. The new government in Rome is promoting ‘Italy First’, a set of policies that may undermine …
Week ahead in EU trade: Juncker-Trump, Mercosur, Brexit
Things are starting to wind down on the trade front before the summer recess. Some news – or at least official remarks, if not tweets – can be expected from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Juncker will seek to sidestep …
(What) a Week in Brussels: Trump, Airbus, CETA, no-deal Brexit
It’s as if everything absolutely had to happen before everyone goes on holiday: inking a deal with Japan, holding a summit with China that actually delivers on a joint statement, launching a WTO reform initiative, introducing steel safeguards, slapping dumping duties on electric bikes and making progress on Mercosur negotiations. …
