News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Monday, May 5, 2025
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Brussels yesterday, and trade was a formal talking point on the agenda for his meetings with Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief. But nothing came out on that meeting on this topic. While trans-Atlantic cooperation on trade is largely off the …
This week could seal the fate of quite a few EU trade policy files: the overhaul of the EU’s dumping regulation, the EU Mercosur trade deal and the Brexit talks. TDI reform agreement? Expectations are high that the EU will announce a deal tomorrow on the overhaul of …
This week’s trade highlights of the week have been: Latin America, the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement, trade defence and the EU’s multilateral investment court plans. Deal or no deal in Mercosur, that is the question The EU has been negotiating hard with both Mercosur and Mexico this week …
The world’s leading economies have agreed on an “important and effective package” to dismantle market-distorting aid, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmström says. But the US sees it differently, contending that the agreement reached by the Group of 20’s Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity is superficial and inadequate to address steel …
Don’t expect the World Trade Organization to rule any time soon on China’s challenge of the EU’s free-market rules. Well over four months have passed since the three panellists who will adjudicate the case were appointed, but the panel is only holding its first meeting next week. That meeting is …
As the date of Brexit approaches, Britain and various European Union trading partners are multiplying contacts with London to gauge what their future trade relationship will be once the UK leaves the bloc. As conversations with these countries deepen, the task appears increasingly complex. Current contacts with Australia and Switzerland reveal …
The EU and Mercosur are trying hard to get their deal trade done in the coming weeks. The atmosphere among negotiators and in the EU is frenetic as the 31st round of negotiations opens in Brussels on Wednesday. Tensions are running high as competing interests between the parties and …
This is a big week for EU trade negotiators, who will be putting their collective noses to the grindstone as they work toward a year-end goal to clinch agreements with Mexico and Mercosur. Momentum is building for the parties to be able to announce at the World Trade Organization’s December …
Welcome to a new weekly column ‘A week in Brussels’ with the highlights of the trade week in Brussels. I hope you enjoy it! The trade week in Brussels ends with an understated Eastern Partnership summit. It brings together of a group of disparate countries traumatised by the Ukraine crisis …
EU and Mercosur negotiators agreed to prolong for another seven days a marathon two-week round of negotiations scheduled to start on 27 November. This means there will be a three-week stretch to get close to a deal before the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, on the sidelines …
