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 …
EU trade policies
Agriculture: Eleven member states want EU Mercosur talks suspension
The Council meeting on agriculture and fisheries held in Brussels on Monday (12 June 2017) lay bare a deep divide over ongoing trade policy between a group of countries made up of Southern European countries, Ireland, and Central and Eastern European countries, and the rest of the EU. Eleven countries called on the EU to take a cautious …
Hogan: Brazil meat scandal no obstacle to concluding Mercosur trade pact in 2017
The EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur have vowed to conclude their ongoing free trade negotiations by the end of the year 2017. Though to many the goal seems highly ambitious, both sides are trying to get there at a time when Argentina tries to take the lead …
OECD meeting fails to overcome rift with United States on trade
Members of the OECD which gathered in Paris on 7 and 8 June 2017 failed to bring the US on board a joint statement that sheds a positive light on trade and the Paris Agreement on climate change. The United States Trade Representative decided to issue a separate statement. “The …
Comment: What’s all that noise about TTIP?
What’s happening on TTIP? Noise, that’s what’s happening. No action. There’s a lot of hoo-haa about Germany’s Angela Merkel’s recent comments in which she states she remains open to the idea of relaunching the transatlantic TTIP negotiations that were shelved around the time Donald Trump was elected president of …
Malmström and Lighthizer in first formal meet
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström is making a point of having friendly meetings in Paris at the OECD and WTO meeting being held in Paris this week. She just got over a first meeting with her brand new United States counterpart USTR Robert Lighthizer. At the time of writing …
Think tank: EU inconsistent in trade with Western Sahara, occupied territories
A new paper by the Polish international affairs think tank PISM criticises the EU’s inconsistent way of dealing with the consequences of a recent Court of Justice ruling on a 2012 agriculture trade agreement with Morocco that it applied to products from Western Sahara. The EU should come clean on this issue …
EU China summit: progress on GIs, new dialogue on subsidies
The article was updated on 05/06/2017 8.25 CET. Council president Donald Tusk hailed the 19th EU China summit in Brussels this week as “the most promising summit” with China he ever attended. EU leaders held the press waiting for more than three hours before announcing little concrete steps …
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?”, …
Japan’s TPP negotiator slams EU-style permanent investment court
After having brought the Transpacific Partnership to bed in early 2016 as lead negotiator for Tokyo, Ambassador Koji Tsuruoka was sent to London to be Japan’s top representative in Britain. At a recent conference of trade lawyers at the prestigious university King’s College, the Japanese envoy spoke his mind on …