Today we will be brief….. Antique goods import licences to fight ISIS The Commission announced the launch of a new regulation that would require import licences for “archeological objects, part of monuments that have been dismembered and for rare manuscripts and incunabula” that are more than 250 years …
Internal EU politics
Retailers blast Parliament position on new EU trade defence method
The Foreign Trade Association, the EU’s main retailing and light industry organisation, released a new position paper on EU plans to adapt its trade defence methodology as it moves to do away with ‘non market economy’ status for countries like China. The organisation calls on the European Parliament to review its demands. The move came …
G20 in Hamburg: trying times for the WTO
Diplomats at the G20 summit in Hamburg hosted by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to cobble together a compromise text promising not to resort to trade protectionism. Whether their joint statement will eliminate the threat of trade wars or, possibly, the tearing apart of the World Trade Organization, remains to be …
Blog: EU Summit – leader statements on free trade, FTAs, Brexit
The European Summit has started in Thursday (22 June 2017). Trade is not on the agenda before Friday (23 June 2017). However, it is going to be a central topic. We’ve selected a few leader statements to gauge the political temperature and the objectives of a few member states on trade agreements, …
US Section 232 : French, German, UK steel most at risk in Europe
A new study released by the Washington-based Peterson Institute reveals that German, British and French steel exports are likely to be hit most by new trade retaliatory measures initiated and envisaged by the Donald Trump administration since it took office in January 2017. The US has initiated various antidumping measures …
Timmermans: EU crisis an opportunity to work for ‘fair trade’
“Any society needs a social contract and that social contract means a spirit of community”, the social-democrat Dutchman said. “All the other things, better regulation, better energy union, better results in the internal market – people will say okay fine but what about us what are we as a community?”, …
German ‘Mittelstand’ organisation calls for cool head on transatlantic relations
“Long nurtured relationships as between the United States and Germany never only rely on individual persons or sharp statements”, warned Mark Wansleben, head of the German business organization DIHK after the G7 meeting in Taormina, Italy on 26 & 27 May 2017. The statements made to Handelsblatt, the leading German …
Blog – New French government – elusive picture on trade
Newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron has named the team he wants to work with: 22 ministers and secretaries of state under the supervision of prime minister Edouard Philippe. It’s early to say anything on French government attitudes to trade going forward, but as it stands let’s expect continuity. …
ECJ says investor-state dispute settlement not exclusive EU remit
The long-awaited ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU on the division of competences between Brussels and the member states on the content of the 2013/2014 free trade agreement with Singapore settles many perpetual power tussles between Brussels and the capitals on a variety of trade-related topics. The …
Merkel says ready to talk with Macron on “reciprocity” in trade
Emmanuel Macron, France’s freshly inaugurated President, met Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin today. Germans wonder whether he is making the EU more protectionist. But Merkel welcomes his insistence on demanding greater reciprocity in market openings from European trading partners. Quizzed by the press about his plans to introduce a Buy European Act …
