News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
It’s been an intense week on transatlantic trade and Brexit trade front. Below, other interesting bits of news in EU trade. EU-Mercosur focus A lot of noise, little extra substance on EU-Mercosur free trade talks this week. Next week, European negotiators will fly to South America for a 36th round …
Welcome to the jungle. The title of a 1990s song by US rock group Guns ‘n’ Roses seems apt in the world that EU trade policy is facing this autumn. It is a world at risk of descending into lawlessness, where guns start to prevail over roses in the international …
This week was largely dominated by the European Parliament’s work on trade, the transatlantic trade rift and the deepening crisis of the WTO’s Appellate Body. This is what we wrote about this week: The WTO Appellate Body crisis here and here Southern Africa and UK trade post Brexit State of …
After Cecilia Malmström briefed MEPs on the July meeting between US President Donald Trump and the European Commission’s chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Parliament made clear that it wanted a say in the negotiation process that is now unfolding. The two sides are setting up an ‘executive working group’ that …
In Europe, the tendency is to bundle together or even mix up Australia and New Zealand, the two neighbouring Oceanian countries. In trade, the two sometimes add to the confusion by at times signing free trade agreements with third countries together, such as in 2009 with their neighbour ASEAN. The …
The European Parliament’s international trade committee is examining a new regulation tabled by the European Commission aimed at streamlining the way safeguards are negotiated with current bilateral free trade agreement partners. The legislation would apply to the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, to the EU-Singapore FTA and to the EU-Vietnam FTA. …
The policy world is getting back to work comparatively early in August this year. Some serious meetings and talks are being held this week on transatlantic trade relations and on Brexit.
Russia has lost its central argument in a four-year-old World Trade Organization complaint challenging the EU’s energy market laws: the right of the bloc to prevent a single company from owning both natural gas pipelines and distribution networks. The WTO ruled today that certain energy-supply measures imposed by the EU …
This week’s White House trade truce between the European Union and the United States will only stick if the two sides manage to enter a genuinely structured dialogue process. That won’t be easy. Jean-Claude Juncker’s success in cajoling US President Donald Trump to sign a joint statement is a diplomatic …
One thing must be said about Jean-Claude Juncker’s skills as an international diplomat during his visit to the White House: he accomplished his mission, which was simply to ease transatlantic trade tensions. Juncker importantly won over the US to the notion of World Trade Organization reform, a new project championed …
