News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, April 25, 2025
All good things happen on a Friday afternoon when everyone wants to head off into the week-end: the EU just released its offer to the United States towards the conformity assessment agreement they are currently negotiating. If you were wondering what to read over the week-end, here it is! High …
Trade negotiations between the European Union and Indonesia continue, despite deep splits between Brussels and Jakarta over issues ranging from palm oil to technical barriers to trade.
The main EU trade policy items to watch out for this week are: e-commerce, Indonesian FTA, Vietnam FTA and IPA.
“It will come. And soon,” a source close to the Indonesian government said when asked if and when Jakarta would file a dispute at the World Trade Organization in response to the EU’s new rules on biofuel mixes being released today (21 May). Tuesday was the final act of a …
EASTER BREAK: Borderlex journalists also need a break. So we will be off taking a rest for a few days, and back reporting and commenting on European Union trade policy next Tuesday. Happy Easter! What else happened this week in EU trade? EU could challenge new US-Cuba measures at WTO …
It’s been an intense week! The EU was involved in the launch of plurilateral negotiations on e-commerce (Jennifer will have more) in Switzerland. That will be a boost to the World Trade Organization. Southeast Asia also featured highly on the agenda as a ministerial meeting was held this week amid rows …
The EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced plans yesterday to upgrade their relationship to a ‘strategic partnership’. But palm oil and human rights disagreements continue to put sand in the wheels of the bilateral cooperation machinery. Strategic partner status tends to mean little in practice. For the …
The European Commission is expected to table its first text on data flows in a bilateral free trade negotiation on Friday. The commission will submit a text to the Indonesian government as part of ongoing trade talks. The move comes even though most EU member states are unhappy with the …
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 …
If the EU wants to avoid losing a potential World Trade Organization dispute following its decision to phase out palm and soybean oil-based biofuels, it will need to prove its environmenal criteria are objective. For political reasons, that will be difficult, as this might involve displeasing EU rapeseed and sunflower …
