News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
On Wednesday the European Parliament held a snap debate on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and whether it was compatible with the Green Deal announced by Commission von der Leyen. The Mercosur text’s examination and ratification process have not yet started. Said text is not yet even entirely consolidated. Yet the …
It took Indonesia a long time to move from threat to action: but now we have the complaint filed by Jakarta against the European Union’s REDII directive in its relation to imported biofuels. The Indonesian complaint also targets France’s tax exemptions for biofuels – which do not cover biodiesel based …
Brussels has eagerly been waiting for the new European Commission’s ‘Green Deal, a flagship initiative announced by its new president Ursula von der Leyen. Coordinated by Vice President Frans Timmermans, the new compact of measures aims to bring together various strands of EU policy to fulfil the EU’s goal to …
The arrest of a Saigon-based trade agreement critic and independent journalist complicates the European Parliament’s final preparations to ratify a landmark trade agrement and an accompanying investment protection accord with Vietnam.
It’s been a fairly quiet week in Brussels as befits any last week of August in Europe. But quiet weeks are good moments for ‘interesting’ moves by the European Commission’s antidumping directorate. This week we saw among others an extension of bike antidumping duties from China on grounds that look …
One hundred WTO members aired concerns about the European Union’s ongoing drive to heavily restrict, if not ban, pesticide use in agriculture at a meeting in Geneva today (9 July).
Compared to the ongoing free trade agreement negotiation process with New Zealand, the European Union’s trade talks with Australia are advancing slowly. It’s clear Brussels and Canberra are taking the time they need to bridge wide gaps in the way they conceive some international trade and investment issues. One of …
Will the EU make its trade policy greener in the coming years? If anything, the politics of green trade will become messier, reckons Iana Dreyer.
On Thursday (2 May) Germany’s Peter Altmaier, France’s Bruno Le Maire and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic formally launched the European Battery Alliance in Paris. The plan has been in the works in Brussels for almost two years and is the new face of European industrial policy. The aim …
It’s a case of three interests coming together in the United States: geopolitics, mercantile endeavours and Trumpian electioneering. This time around, the EU had it relatively easy in prompting a significant shift in US domestic regulation. When the European Union and the United States were negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and …
