This week we saw developments on the EU China market economy case, Mercosur, the UK GSP scheme, fishing and Korea. What else happened?
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
In brief: EU aims to conclude Mercosur talks by end of June in Japan
Negotiators are giving it a try: to conclude the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations at the G20 summit in Osaka in 10 days’ time (28 and 29 June).
EU Korea: Movement on auto standards and labour
The EU not only managed to get South Korea to launch the ratification process of International Labour Organisation conventions it committed to abide by in the 2011 EU Korea free trade agreement, Seoul also agreed to update and accept new technical and EU automotive standards as part of ongoing bilateral …
EU WTO market economy status case suspended – following request from China
The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization has suspended the high-profile case it brought against the European Union. Beijing sued because it believed the EU had not complied with a commitment to treat is as a market economy in its trade defence measures in time for a December …
Week Ahead in EU trade: E-commerce, Vietnam, Indonesia
The main EU trade policy items to watch out for this week are: e-commerce, Indonesian FTA, Vietnam FTA and IPA.
Week in Brussels: Mercosur hoopla, Israel labelling
This week we’ve focused a lot on Australia and New Zealand as well as on internal EU battles over the steel safeguard.
EU Australia FTA: Labour and environmental issues come into focus
Compared to the ongoing free trade agreement negotiation process with New Zealand, the European Union’s trade talks with Australia are advancing slowly. It’s clear Brussels and Canberra are taking the time they need to bridge wide gaps in the way they conceive some international trade and investment issues. One of …
Auto vs steel industry battle intensifies over import safeguard
The European Union is reviewing a safeguard it introduced earlier in 2019 to relieve steel producers from inexpensive imports in a market it feared would be flooded by cheap products in the aftermath of the US’s Section 232 steel import restrictions. The measure pits embattled European steel producers against the …
Long read – Self reliance: the emerging EU trade policy trend in a hostile world
The European Commission no longer seems to trust global norms, fora or rule-making negotiations to uphold its interests in digital, competition, industry and trade policy. In fact many norms hardly exist and won’t likely emerge so quickly. The EU’s executive arm has been rethinking its policy toolkit and is seeking …
EU-US : To European leaders voluntary auto export restrictions are taboo
Today’s trade ministers’ meeting was an opportunity to take stock of ongoing European Union-United States files. The gathering took place more than a week after US president Trump postponed imposing duties of up to 25% on imports of autos by six months. The US president however asked for negotiations to …
