Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand and Switzerland concluded an agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability that breaks new ground in the area of services and which bans fossil fuel subsidies. This is a first-in-kind legally binding international trade agreement with a primary focus on pursuing environmental policy objectives. The …
EU Climate, Environment, Labour, Human Rights
EUDR: Scrap the risk assessment benchmarking system, say developing countries
Seventeen ‘Global South’ countries are calling on the EU to scrap its plans to establish a three-tiered deforestation risk benchmarking system to assess the extent to which controls will be imposed on their exports at the border.
Comment: EU 2024 elections could herald a trade policy of the ‘returns coordinator’
The far-right shift in European Union mainstream politics is set to reach a new stage in the coming parliament elections. It has already infected the EU’s trade policy as witnessed by interinstitutional negotiations over trade preferences for developing countries. Will the infection spread to other trade policy areas in the …
Flash: Push to get CSDDD, forced labour regulation over finish line
EU institutions are in a rush to finalise flagship legislation aiming to reduce industrial supply chain exposure to human rights abuses an environmental damages. The Belgian EU presidency hopes to announce an agreement of ambassadors to the EU tomorrow, Friday 8 March on the corpororate sustainability due diligence directive known …
Malaysia palm oil WTO panel divided over EU protectionist intent
The World Trade Organization released the panel report in one of the two cases brought by two world leading producers of palm oil against a European Union directive that excludes the oil produced in their countries from its future biofuels mix. The lengthy 348-page report does not settle for good …
Forced labour ban: trilogue negotiations concluded
The three EU institutions finalised overnight negotiations putting the finishing touches on a regulation that enacts a formal ban on products made with forced labour.
THINK TANK: Trump, EU US MRA, energy security first, MSMEs
Trump, the Transatlantic Trade and Technology Council, energy security… and MSMEs. Here some highlights of what think tanks have written about in recent days.
New EU China biodiesel trade defence case
The European Commission launched its tenth initial trade defence investigation for 2023, of which eight target China and one is an anti-subsidy investigation. This doubles the number of new cases compared to 2022. And it will allow the commission to surgically target biodiesel imports from China.
THINK TANK: An alternative trading system, EVs, US renewables tariffs
Here is a roundup of what trade think tanks have been up to this week.
Comment: For gender-balanced trade, elect more women into parliaments
The upcoming European Parliament elections and general elections across Europe are an opportunity for women to elect more female representatives in the pursuit of gender-balanced trade policies.