News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Sunday, May 4, 2025
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that although “there is still a case for an ambitious trade agreement between the EU and the US”, there is a “need to clarify that both sides share an ambition to find solutions to difficult issues”. The EU’s trade chief spoke in Washington …
US interest in reviving TTIP negotiations has met with both relief and scepticism. Few, however, believe Cecilia Malmström, the EU’s trade chief, will come back from a trip to Washington this week with any important announcements on the future of the flagship transatlantic trade pact. “The press reports about a …
Argentina’s foreign minister Susana Malcorra reiterated Argentina’s wish to see the recently re-launched EU-Mercosur free trade negotiations finalised in 2017 during a trip to Brussels on Thursday (20 April 2017). Mauricio Macri’s government wants to send a strong pro-market and pro-trade signal to the world. Buenos Aires will be the location of …
US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross recently rejected claims the United States was becoming more protectionist as “rubbish”. He also said of his country: “We are the least protectionist of the major [economic] areas”. The US government is currently reviewing some trading partners’ trade practices. It wishes to launch bilateral trade …
The European Commission is raising expectations that the EU Japan free trade agreement will bring significant reductions in ‘non tariff’ barriers to European exports. Brussels and Tokyo have been working intensely to reach the final stretches of what is now a four-year free trade agreement negotiation that has seen various ups and …
The EU has not been successful in convincing India to relaunch long-stalled bilateral free trade negotiations. Nor has it been able to stop New Delhi from cancelling its bilateral investment treaties with individual EU member states. So far, there seems no way out of the impasse, a letter written by trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström …
The EU and Australia have finalised a ‘scoping exercise’ and are now ready to launch preparations towards initiating free trade talks. The European Commission will now request a formal mandate from the EU’s member states to start free trade negotiations with the Oceanian country. The EU aims to conclude FTAs …
On Thursday (6 April 2017), the EU slapped definitive antidumping duties ‘hot-rolled’ iron products and on steel imported from China. The move comes only a few days after the WTO established a dispute settlement panel following a Chinese complaint in which Beijing accuses the EU of illegally continuing to apply its …
The EU Commission is putting free trade talks with the Philippines on halt. In practice, this means it is not setting a new date for a new round of free trade negotiations given concerns over the country’s human rights record. FTA talks with the Philippines were launched in 2016 and are part …
The freshly released 2017 edition of the United States Trade Representative’s annual National Trade Estimate report comes at an interesting time, as it indicates where the Donald Trump administration’s trade priorities with its partners are most likely to lie in the months and years ahead. The EU chapter dwells …
