News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, June 20, 2025
It’s been a packed week for trade in Brussels as everyone prepares to break for Christmas. The trade talks with Mexico did not conclude successfully, and the European Commission is still wrangling over data flows in free trade agreements. The commission came up with a tough transition offer for …
It was a relatively quiet week for trade around the world this week as the holidays approach. The Beyond Brussels column will also take a holiday, and return in January. Borderlex wishes all of our subscribers a wonderful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous 2018. E-COMMERCE: Governments are …
There will be no modernised trade deal with Mexico for Christmas. Despite having personally spent three days in Brussels, economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo hasnt managed to break the deadlock over some of the most contentious outstanding issues in the negotiations, namely geographical indications and investment protection. The modernisation of …
The college of commissioners will meet tomorrow to decide how to deal with data flows in EU trade agreements. According to several sources close to the file, the European Commission might end up not dealing with the matter at all. Despite increasing calls from member states and the European …
China tends to play its cards very close to its chest when it comes to World Trade Organization disputes. So Beijing’s decision to publish part of its oral statement to the WTO panel adjudicating its complaint about the EU’s refusal to treat China as a free economy underscores just how …
The clock is ticking as the EU and Mexico work to secure a framework to upgrade their 17-year-old trade agreement by the end of the month. The two sides made progress on issues including market access and intellectual property during their sixth round of discussions in November, and negotiators held …
The last moments of a trade negotiation are always highly uncertain. Bluff and brinkmanship are part of the game. Sometimes, someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat and everything falls into place. Yet the petering out of the EU-Mercosur free trade negotiation in Buenos Aires on the sidelines …
All eyes are on the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires this week. But there are other issues on the table back in Europe: digital and EU-China investment negotiations. All eyes on Buenos Aires There is little hope for a major concrete deliverable at the four-day …
It’s been an eventful week in Brussels. EU-Japan FTA – on track The EU and Japan finalised their free trade agreement negotiations this morning. The full text of the deal will be available in a few days. These FTA negotiations were politically concluded this summer. Negotiators worked …
The EU and Mercosur have exchanged what they term their ‘final offers’ on market access as part of efforts to bring their almost two-decade-old talks to a close in the coming weeks. The offers exchanged yesterday cover tariffs and quotas for goods as well as services and procurement. The EU, …
