News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Monday, May 5, 2025
Spain’s Mariano Rajoy is visiting Brazil and Uruguay this week for a trade promotion tour and to talk EU Mercosur free trade. This is a good moment to look into some of the – many – sensitive files in the talks: agriculture and wine and spirits. Latin America is …
Trade policy was not a central topic in the campaign in the run-up to the first round of French presidential elections on Sunday (23 April) which propelled 39-old Emmanuel Macron to first place, ahead of the populist Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen. What would France’s approach be to the EU’s trade policy under Macron …
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that although “there is still a case for an ambitious trade agreement between the EU and the US”, there is a “need to clarify that both sides share an ambition to find solutions to difficult issues”. The EU’s trade chief spoke in Washington …
US interest in reviving TTIP negotiations has met with both relief and scepticism. Few, however, believe Cecilia Malmström, the EU’s trade chief, will come back from a trip to Washington this week with any important announcements on the future of the flagship transatlantic trade pact. “The press reports about a …
Argentina’s foreign minister Susana Malcorra reiterated Argentina’s wish to see the recently re-launched EU-Mercosur free trade negotiations finalised in 2017 during a trip to Brussels on Thursday (20 April 2017). Mauricio Macri’s government wants to send a strong pro-market and pro-trade signal to the world. Buenos Aires will be the location of …
US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross recently rejected claims the United States was becoming more protectionist as “rubbish”. He also said of his country: “We are the least protectionist of the major [economic] areas”. The US government is currently reviewing some trading partners’ trade practices. It wishes to launch bilateral trade …
Ever wondered what the state of Bavaria thinks of the EU’s plans for a multilateral investment court? You can find out by ploughing through the many responses the public consultation led by the European Commission on its plans for a new mechanism to resolve disputes between international investors and states. …
The European Commission is raising expectations that the EU Japan free trade agreement will bring significant reductions in ‘non tariff’ barriers to European exports. Brussels and Tokyo have been working intensely to reach the final stretches of what is now a four-year free trade agreement negotiation that has seen various ups and …
The EU has not been successful in convincing India to relaunch long-stalled bilateral free trade negotiations. Nor has it been able to stop New Delhi from cancelling its bilateral investment treaties with individual EU member states. So far, there seems no way out of the impasse, a letter written by trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström …
The first draft of the European Parliament’s report on the EU’s current plans to overhaul its 2009 dual use export regulation goes further than the Commission’s initial proposals. The new dual use export control policy of the EU will expand export licensing requirements for certain technologies to situations where exports could …
