News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, May 1, 2025
The European Commission has published a lot of material about the free trade agreement concluded with Mercosur last summer. But the most interesting parts of the agreement – the market access offers in goods and services – were still missing. Whether it’s the effect of last Sunday’s elections in Argentina …
The stink the United States and other advanced countries have been putting up in recent months at the World Trade Organization appears to be achieving some results. China and other countries have started listening. The behaviour and status of developing countries in the global trading system, industrial subsidies and state …
It’s been a horrible week for trade aficionados. The US said no to proposed WTO Appellate Body reforms, US tariffs on EU exports are kicking in, and one had to follow the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The final Brexit deal implies customs contortions in Northern Ireland which many policy wonks …
Foreign ministers of the European Union agreed to upgrade relationships with the South East Asian country Thailand at a meeting in Luxembourg today. Among others, the upgrage involves resuming trade agreement negotiations. These had begun in 2010 but were halted after the Council asked the European Commission to suspend negotiations …
Airbus, transatlantic This week in European Union trade politics will be dominated yet again by ‘Airbus tariffs’ and the general state of transatlantic trade relations. Today, the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization is set to authorise retaliation by the United States after it won its case against …
Perhaps the many behind-the-scenes meetings held by officials, experts and lawyers on the sides of the World Trade Organization’s Public Forum this week in Geneva will have been worth the time, energy and travel expenses. One cannot exclude some movement in the coming weeks over the organisation’s Appellate Body impasse, …
Yes, we all know, this was transatlantic week and Airbus week. It was also Phil Hogan week. It was also international trade committee week – with MEPs discussing the US-EU beef quota and the ongoing EU-Australia negotiations. Below other interesting news. Parliament gears up for EU Vietnam FTA and IPA ratification …
The perception in Brussels is that the approach taken in the choice and level of tariffs by the US Trade Representative to hit the European Union following yesterday’s WTO arbitrator’s green light in the Airbus affair is relatively measured. Accordingly, the EU’s own response to the tariffs, too, is expected …
So what happens now? Airbus tariffs authorised Today, as expected a World Trade Organization arbitrator authorised the United States to remove concessions offered to the European Union under two WTO treaties amounting to an equivalent of almost US $ 7.5 billion worth of exports. “These countermeasures may take the form …
Has the time for a full-scale trade war between the European Union and the United States now arrived? Clearly the two sides are on the brink of a nasty and damaging process. With the US now largely having achieved its objectives in the sniping war it launched against some of …
