News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
All EU institutions are singing from the same hymn sheet after requests came in last week from business groups to postpone the enactment of new tariffs due in August on one fifth of Cambodian exports. The message is the following: We are sorry COVID-19 let to 150.000 people losing their …
The European Union and China have been negotiating a bilateral investment agreement for seven years. Are they anywhere close to concluding a deal? It is not yet entirely clear how mature the negotiations are with China nor how close the parties to having close-to-consolidated treaty language ready for politicians to …
A few weeks before the Big Lockdown, the European Union announced it was suspending trade preferences enjoyed by Cambodia under Brussels’ flagship duty-free-quota-free trade regime for the world’s poorest countries. Despite the severe economic and supply chain damage wrought by the pandemic, the EU still appears to plan on pressing …
The trade week in the EU was significant, with new orientiations for policy spelt out as part of the bloc’s post-corona recovery plan. WTO: But the week in not entirely over as members of the WTO General Council meet today and next Tuesday online to confer about the next steps …
The EU and Japan held a bilateral virtual ‘leadership meeting’ today, in which the two parties reiterated their commitment to working together at the international level. The meeting was held in advance of a coming G7 meeting in the United States. The joint statement released after the meeting brings little …
If this were not the COVID-19 lockdown period, the EU’s new trade defence duties on glass fibre fabrics – decided upon last week and published on Monday in the Official Journal – would have received much more media attention.
Today EU member states gave their final assent to the EU Vietnam free trade agreement – the move was delayed by a few weeks due to the disturbances in the EU meeting calendar brought by the COVID-19 situation. The flagship trade pact with the South East Asian emerging market is …
It should have been a formality. The EU Vietnam free trade agreement was due to be adopted at a meeting of trade ministers that was cancelled last week. This move followed on a decision by the Council not to hold ‘non essential’ Council meetings in Brussels in order to contain …
The European Union is preparing to re-launch free trade agreement negotiations with Thailand, a key member of the South East Asian grouping ASEAN.
Some week-end reading after many developments this week on EU ASEAN trade: Vietnam FTA, trade preference withdrawal for Cambodia, GSP reports on Myanmar and the Philippines, and an EU ASEAN Senior Officials meeting. Commentary by Borderlex editor Iana Dreyer.
