News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
There’s only one big event on the Brussels trade agenda this week – another negotiating round with Mercosur – but that doesn’t mean the coming days will be quiet. Between the start of US tariffs on European steel and aluminium, the EU’s decision to respond with a World Trade Organization …
This has been another big week in EU trade. Member states managed to cobble together a joint approach to US President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariff threat. The EU lost two World Trade Organization cases – the big-ticket Airbus case and the more symbolic Pakistan plastic pellets case …
Two events will happen in Brussels this week that merit close attention: the European Parliament’s international trade committee will discuss a range of headline-worthy issues during its two-day meeting and the Working Party on Trade Questions will discuss investment screening. The churn on Article 50 negotiations between the EU27 and …
Import quotas on sensitive agricultural products opened in the EU’s latest FTAs appear to be of little use to both exporters and importers. The last round of EU-Mercosur trade negotiations held last week ended in acrimony. Both EU agriculture market access – aka quotas on beef, sugar and ethanol …
There is intense lobbying in Brussels on beef, sugar and ethanol this week as dormant trade talks resume with Mercosur, the South American bloc.
The European Commission has released an 18-page document on the EU-Mexico free trade deal that was concluded over the weekend. Here are the distilled contents of the modernisation exercise, with yours truly’s knee-jerk reactions and annotations. Negotiators will work over the coming months on a final pact ready to …
Put on your seatbelt and get prepared for a crazy ride this week.
It’s been mainly a week of background shuffling on Trump tariffs in the EU. Here some other interesting bits of news of interest to our readers. Macron party takes on Malmström on FTAs Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström was in Paris on Tuesday doing the rounds on trade policy, …
With Easter approaching it’s been a comparatively quiet week in Brussels, although behind the scenes there is a lot of work on dealing with the United States’ protectionist “extortion”, as so many call it. There are preparations for the next phase of Brexit negotiations and there’s been work hammering out …
EU free trade negotiations, ratifications and mandate releases have been on the slow lane recently compared to other trade policy files, as President Donald Trump and Brexit grab headlines and policymakers’ attention. Here’s an overview of where we are on the various files. Mercosur EU-Mercosur FTA negotiations are …
