News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Sunday, May 4, 2025
It’s mainly been a WTO-intensive week for the EU with a revised intellectual property dispute filed against China, and the US having yet another gripe about the Appellate Body. London clinched a short bye-bye deal with Norway, Iceland and Liecthenstein, while the country is realising little is actually in place in …
The US and a dozen other World Trade Organization members have finally agreed about something concerning the Appellate Body: the WTO’s highest court has no authority to issue rulings that set a binding precedent. This issue is a non-issue in the eyes of WTO members including the EU, Canada, Japan …
The strong effects of regional trade agreements on commerce between members show that economic integration works, writes Per Altenberg. Negotiating RTAs that liberalise trade is an effective strategy for countries that seek economic improvement through trade, he argues.
Remember when the European Union filed a dispute at the World Trade Organization last spring targeting Chinese intellectual property violations and forced technology transfers? In fact, the preliminary consultations foreseen by WTO rules before legal proceedings begin never actually took place. Instead, the EU went back to the drawing board …
Britain and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein agreed on the terms of their ‘separation’. Members of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Area largely replicate EU single market rules. As an EU member, Britain is also an EEA member – hence the need to strike an agreement with …
The European Commission is stepping up pressure on the Trump administration to fully comply with the 2016 Privacy Shield, a framework agreement that allows certified US companies to transfer personal data from EU-based citizens to the United States. The move follows on an annual review process held this autumn (see …
A milestone was reached this week in Britain’s quest to secure trading continuity with most European Union trading partners after Brexit. Switzerland has been one of the UK’s priorities in its bid to ‘roll over’ EU FTAs with third countries. In case of a ‘no deal’ exit, only a few …
The ratification of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement by the European Parliament on Wednesday boosted morale at a time when relationships with the United States remain ‘complicated’ and the WTO is sinking into crisis as the US rejected the EU’s WTO reform proposals during meetings in Geneva this week. But …
The measures at stake are at the heart of the current conversation in the World Trade Organization on how to discipline subsidies to coddled industrial sectors and on the treatment of developing countries in the organisation.
The ratification by a large majority of MEPs of the European Union-Japan Economic Partnership agreement this week in Strasbourg is a boost to the morale of decision-makers battered by the ongoing transatlantic trade and gas ‘war’ – in which Germany is quietly starting to do some of the heavy lifting. …
