News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, May 9, 2025
If last week was quiet in Brussels on trade, this week will be overloaded with trade policy meetings. A new round of EU Mercosur free trade negotiations is taking place in Brasilia this week. Mercosur will also be central to the agriculture and fisheries Council meeting held today …
The European Commission released a report on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, a pot of public money set up ten years ago to help workers in distressed sectors retrain and find new jobs. The press announcement states proudly that this report proves the fund’s “effectiveness”. In 2015 and 2016, …
The French government announced an ‘action plan’ on the EU Canada CETA agreement on Wednesday (25 October 2017). A deep dive into the 20-page document reveals how Macron’s government is manoeuvring to make highly contested trade agreements back home palatable to his party base and the electorate when it puts …
The European Parliament gave its assent to and set its requirements for the launch and conclusion of free trade agreement negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. MEPs 452 voted in favour of the Australian agreement (126 against and 25 abstentions). New Zealand found less supporters, with 440 MEPs voting …
It’s a hot week in the World Trade Organization as members spar over disputes and trade remedies. On Wednesday (25 October 2017) the Committee of Antidumping Practices examined among others the EU’s new trade defence legislation. Eleven WTO members criticised the EU’s planned overhaul of the way it calculates dumping …
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled today that negotiations to upgrade the so-called Lisbon Agreement, an international treaty on the protection of geographical indications dating back to 1958, and overseen by the World Intellectual Protection Organization, are to be led under the EU’s exclusive competence as part …
The French government plans to put CETA to ratification in its national assembly in the second half of 2018. In the meantime Paris will work on means to introduce what it termed an “environmental veto” on investor-state disputes that could jeopardise climate policies, ministers announced today. The EU Canada …
MEPs from the trade committee feeding into a current report by the budget committee on the future of EU finances have suggested the EU introduce border environmental taxes as a means to increase its own resources – its own tax take – in future. The move comes as calls …
The ‘Donald Trump effect’ is being played out in full in the World Trade Organization as tensions over trade remedies and the dispute settlement bodies rise. This week WTO members are gathering in a series of meetings on trade remedies and dispute settlement. The US continues to bloc the …
The EU Commission made public the terms of the dispute settlement mechanism it tabled during the last round of trade negotiations with Mercosur in early October 2017 in Brasilia for the planned ‘sustainable development’ chapter. The EU body also released its assessment of this round of talks, revealing the most …
