News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Happy New Year, dear subscribers! The year 2018 will offer a very narrow window of opportunity to bring key EU trade policy files forward. On the EU’s plate this year: finalise trade negotiations with Mexico and Mercosur, get key trade agreements with Singapore, Vietnam and Japan through the European …
It’s been a packed week for trade in Brussels as everyone prepares to break for Christmas. The trade talks with Mexico did not conclude successfully, and the European Commission is still wrangling over data flows in free trade agreements. The commission came up with a tough transition offer for …
It was a relatively quiet week for trade around the world this week as the holidays approach. The Beyond Brussels column will also take a holiday, and return in January. Borderlex wishes all of our subscribers a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous 2018. E-COMMERCE: Governments are …
The clock is ticking as the EU and Mexico work to secure a framework to upgrade their 17-year-old trade agreement by the end of the month. The two sides made progress on issues including market access and intellectual property during their sixth round of discussions in November, and negotiators held …
It’s been an intense week again for EU trade. While trade agreements with far away countries like those in the Mercosur bloc have taken a hit, the trade focus is now clearly shifting closer to home, namely to Brexit. Brexit: Habemus Phase II It was widely expected. Member …
There’s no need to rehash any of the ‘bigger’ news – relatively speaking, of course – that came out of the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting this week, as we’ve covered much of it already. And there really wasn’t much news at all from the conference, anyway. But there were …
The last moments of a trade negotiation are always highly uncertain. Bluff and brinkmanship are part of the game. Sometimes, someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat and everything falls into place. Yet the petering out of the EU-Mercosur free trade negotiation in Buenos Aires on the sidelines …
All eyes are on the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires this week. But there are other issues on the table back in Europe: digital and EU-China investment negotiations. All eyes on Buenos Aires There is little hope for a major concrete deliverable at the four-day …
It’s been an eventful week in Brussels. EU-Japan FTA – on track The EU and Japan finalised their free trade agreement negotiations this morning. The full text of the deal will be available in a few days. These FTA negotiations were politically concluded this summer. Negotiators worked …
In trade news from outside the EU this week, we have: CANADA-NAFTA: NAFTA talks resume on Monday with a partial round in Washington, though there will be no political leaders at the table. Ahead of that happening, Canadian Labor Minister Patricia Hajdu will meet with some of the country’s biggest …
