News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
The week is far from over at the time of writing, but it’s still time to send out our regular Friday “Week in Brussels” column, as there is plenty of material already. The EU quarter of Brussels has been in total lockdown for several days as heads of government from …
Next week, Canada will unveil to a group of World Trade Organization members a discussion paper outlining consensus-based solutions that Ottawa says will bolster the global trading system. The problem is that the US – which isn’t part of that group – has already identified major elements of the Canadian …
There were unpleasant noises from US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland on Wednesday night following Ross’ meeting with EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström in Brussels. Some media outlets called it the end of the trade ‘truce’ with the United States reached last summer. It …
The European Commission sent the EU-Vietnam free trade and investment agreements to member states and the European Parliament today. So what happens next? And will the trade pact come into force in 2019? It’s clearly not a done deal. In principle, an international agreement is sent to member states only …
This article was updated on 17 October at 14.05 CET/13.05 GMT. The United States trade representative’s office formally notified Congress of its intention to launch trade negotiations with the EU. The letter is a formality that paves the way for talks following a summit between US President Donald Trump and …
The EU recently initiated steps to remove trade preferences reserved for the world’s poorest countries that were granted to Cambodia and Myanmar. One wonders: is this the right policy course? The policy would lead to the potential laying off of thousands of workers in apparel factories. These have been sprouting …
Dennis Shea must have been wearing his dancing shoes when he spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Friday. The US ambassador to the World Trade Organization pirouetted around most of questions that, had they been answered, would have offered some new insights into the …
This week’s top focus in EU trade policy will be Asia. Brussels is hosting the Asia Europe Meeting on Thursday and Friday. ASEM has a very broad membership and lose structure and is mostly seen as a meeting, mingling and talking shop. But in the era of Trump the gathering …
The trade agenda was extremely dense this week. The EU is preparing to sign and ratify a slew of trade deals. The European Commission is close to getting a mandate from member states to renegotiate a beef quota with the US as part of a package of possible deals under …
President Donald Trump said he pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership because it was a “horrible deal” that stole American jobs while benefiting big corporations. But Washington’s new agreement with Mexico and Canada, the USMCA, has incorporated many elements from TPP (reborn as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement …
