News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, April 25, 2025
This week, the the policy churn in Brussels will mainly be about what to do about Donald Trump’s trade policies. Some progress might be made when the EU and Mexico sit down for another negotiating round aimed at updating their trade deal, and European lawmakers in Strasbourg will vote on a …
It’s been a momentous week in EU trade. We had the Trump tariff exemption saga in Brussels, and the next phase of Brexit negotiations agreed today by the member states. For Brexit, we have in principle: a transitional period combined with relatively clean withdrawal terms, and initial guidelines for a …
With things suspiciously quiet on both the Mercosur and Mexico trade talk fronts, the biggest news concerning Brussels this week may be coming from Luxembourg, where the Court of Justice rules on the legality of intra-EU bilateral investment treaties. The week’s headlines will most likely be dominated by the looming …
In Brussels, there is a lot of movement behind the scenes to try and finalise trade agreements with Mexico, Mercosur and Japan. Investment screening is climbing the policy priority list. The EU lost a case in the World Trade Organization against Indonesia over dumping duties it applies against palm …
Trade policy isn’t the most prominent priority of Bulgaria, the Balkan country in charge of presiding the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council. Sofia has put the onus on youth, security, digital and connectivity in the Western Balkans. Trade elicits only a few very general paragraphs in Sofia’s 16-page …
In early September 2017, the European Commission released a draft regulation that provides a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments for national security reasons. These were debated at the European Parliament on Monday (26 September 2017). The EU plans provide for a general framework of exchange of …
The EU Commission’s draft proposal for a regulation on foreign investment screening, announced during the summer 2017, is what it can only be: mainly a framework to share information among member states. It also allows the Commission itself to look more closely into some “projects or programmes of Union interest …
Fresh Eurostat data reveal EU investors, normally the US’ biggest foreign direct investors, shunned the United States in election year 2016. Negative investor sentiment was mutual across the Atlantic, it seems. The context is a sharp drop in outward EU foreign direct investment overall to € 186 bn (£ 166 bn) …
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 …
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, …
