News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Monday, May 5, 2025
Today the international trade committee gathered formally for a two-hour online session for the first time since the COVID-19 related lockdowns. This was an opportunity for an exchange with trade commissioner Phil Hogan. A selection of items discussed therein. EU export restrictions on PPE: the Commission is going ahead with …
Trade ministers of the European Union’s member states gathered online for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown in Brussels to discuss amongst themselves and with the European Commission the most pressing trade issues raised by the pandemic. The meeting was informal. It is being held against the background of …
The European Commission released a ‘roadmap’ to guide member states and EU institutions in managing a phased exit from the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe today. Will the Commission’s approach work? Some perspective on the ‘border’ dimension of the crisis. The general approach taken by the Commission in its guidelines is …
The EU’s export restrictions on protective medical gear introduced mid-March are due to expire next week. The European Commission has reviewed the measures and is now tabling a new regulation that would narrow down the scope of the rules significantly. The products covered by the regulation are to be narrowed …
The WTO’s regular global trade forecast released today deserves special attention as it tries to grapple with the as yet hard-to-quantify impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic growth and on trade. Trade is always disproportionately negatively affected by economic shocks compared to global output. And this time is …
If this were not the COVID-19 lockdown period, the EU’s new trade defence duties on glass fibre fabrics – decided upon last week and published on Monday in the Official Journal – would have received much more media attention.
The European Union and the United States are focusing on getting over the coronavirus pandemic. But on trade, they are still ‘talking’, so to speak. Today the talk coming out of the EU is mildly tougher than usual. The EU announced a modest set of ‘rebalancing’ measures taken in response …
The European Parliament’s international trade committee has urged the European Commission to exempt the Western Balkans from a new regime of export restrictions on medical protective gear and to ensure the measure genuinely remains temporary. The letter comes as the EU prepares follow-up steps on a decision mid-March to temporarily …
Council members agreed to temporarily bury the hatchet on a regulatory proposal tabled by the European Commission that aims to empower it to take ‘retaliatory’ trade measures should a World Trade Organization counterpart block litigation proceedings. The EU is bent on making sure it can continue to use a two-tier …
It’s that time of the year. The publication of the National Trade Estimate report by the US Trade Representative is a yearly ritual and must-read by any trade policy wonk in the world. Even non-US diplomats and policy makers sneakily look up the monumental 500-page annual document that lists all …
