News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Among trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström’s pledges in her 2015 ‘Trade for All’ strategy there is stepping up the fight against corruption. This promise is gradually being translated into action with new anti-corruption provisions foreseen in the coming updated EU Mexico Global Agreement and recently launched EU Chile Association Agreement upgrade. …
The centre-left S&D group, led by the chairman of the international trade committee, Bernd Lange, is in a renewed push for the EU to make the labour and environment provisions in its free trade agreements more enforceable, namely through potential commercial sanctions. The European Commission continues to resist, but is …
The European Commission published the bulk of the text of the EU Japan Economic Partnership Agreement in early December last year. Below some highlights of the pact and some comments – result of your truly’s Christmas break reading. The deal favours significantly EU exporters and is relatively unambitious in services.
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 …
The EU is set to introduce ‘future’ costs of compliance with environmental and labour treaties in its calculation of injury margins in trade-defence cases. The bloc is now making systematic its consideration of a trading partner’s compliance with International Labour Organization and ‘multilateral environmental’ conventions, including the 2015 Paris Agreement …
The European Parliament will once again examine in plenary a compromise text on ‘dual-use’ export control reached in the international trade committee on Thursday, before it is sent back to the European Commission and member states. On 23 October, MEPs mainly from the centre-right ultimately refused to send the final …
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 …
The European Commission has released a new ‘aid for trade’ strategy. After spending close to €97 billion in trade-related aid between 2007 and 2015, the EU is now reassessing its priorities. Brussels’ new focus will be on helping as a priority the world’s least developed countries and fragile states. …
Draft trade agreements currently under negotiation show the EU is ramping up its chapters on trade and sustainable development. One remaining open question is if these chapters will lead to a dispute settlement process that could lead to suspension of commercial preferences. The EU released the latest draft chapters …
The EU is preparing to launch negotiations to modernise a 2002 Association Agreement with Chile that includes a free trade agreement. Trade MEPs agreed on their wish list for the negotiations during a trade committee vote on Tuesday (11 July 2017). Agreement did not go without a small amendment game over the issue of …
