News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
G20 leaders, including US diplomats, managed to put together a declaration calling for urgent work to begin on reform of the World Trade Organization last Friday in Argentina. The next day US President Donald Trump announced a slew of new blatantly WTO-inconsistent tariffs against China, worth $200 billion. This is …
This week, EU relations with the United States and China, EU-Mercosur negotiations and a trade ministers’ meeting in South America will dominate the picture. USTR Robert Lighthizer will be in Brussels today to follow up with trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström on July’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and the …
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 …
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 …
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 …
This is a week of summits and negotiations: the EU will start talks with New Zealand, continue discussions with Mercosur and hold high-level meetings with China and Japan (delayed from last week). And toward the end of the week, when the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body meets, we might …
The next two weeks are notable for all the rounds of trade negotiations: the EU will hold talks with China and Indonesia this week and then with Mercosur and New Zealand next week. In between, EU and Japanese officials will sign their economic partnership and strategic partnership agreements. But perhaps …
This is one of those weeks when it looks like little is happening on the European trade agenda. Don’t be fooled, it’s not time to go fishing – especially in light of the EU’s warning that US tariffs on foreign cars could lead to global retaliation against up to $300 …
The calendar is a bit thin this week, though some news could come out of the two-day European Council meeting about WTO reform and Brexit. And it’s anyone’s guess what we might expect from the US and its unpredictable leader after China’s central bank said yesterday that it would unlock …
This week promises to be busy, with the European Parliament’s trade committee debating a range of issues including EU ties with the US and Latin America, the launch of trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, and the start of the bloc’s tariffs against US goods to strike back at …
