Bern is bent on avoiding that Switzerland’s steel exporters continue to be negatively affected by the European Union’s steel safeguard introduced in 2018 ahead of the measure’s expected extension.
EU trade policies
Comment: EU 2024 elections could herald a trade policy of the ‘returns coordinator’
The far-right shift in European Union mainstream politics is set to reach a new stage in the coming parliament elections. It has already infected the EU’s trade policy as witnessed by interinstitutional negotiations over trade preferences for developing countries. Will the infection spread to other trade policy areas in the …
ASIA TRADE: China-Korea-Japan revive FTA plans, Indonesia CPTPP
This week in Asian trade policy news: South Korea, Japan and China agreed to speed up discussions for a potential trilateral free trade agreement and Indonesia announced its plan to apply for membership to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
THINK TANK: Economic security, critical minerals, USTR
Policies to improve the European Union’s economic security, avoiding critical mineral dependencies and reforming the United States Trade Representative all feature in the think tank universe this week.
Brussels in quest for response to US tariff move on China
The European Union finds itself between a rock and a hard place after the United States announced it was significantly raising existing Section 301 tariffs imposed in the Trump era on imports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, solar cells, semiconductors and medical equipment to sweeping levels on Tuesday. Brussels fears …
THINK TANK: EU trade strategy and industrial policy, EU-Brazil
European think tanks have been busy exploring how to increase the European Union’s export performance, how the bloc should respond to Beijing’s industrial policy and the impact of Brussels’ climate regulations on Brazil.
Comment: The hollowing out of the EU’s commercial power base
To many, the European Union ends its 2019-2024 legislature triumphant, with a European Commission having deftly navigated the Trump years, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and rocky relationships with China. But let’s not believe in fairy tales: the EU made dangerously deep cuts into the branch of the tree …
THINK TANK: Voluntary sustainability standards, CRM, China
Some notable topics covered by think tanks recently include barriers to integrating voluntary sustainability standard into bilateral free trade agreements, Africa’s critical raw materials and the China clean tech threat.
Lange: We have a more integrated perspective on trade policy
Bernd Lange served as chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee for two terms. In an in-depth conversation with Iana Dreyer, he discussed what changes to EU trade policy occurred under his tenure in this pivotal position, where he sees future relationships with the United States and China – …
Romania solar foreign subsidies case: Chinese intra-corporate subsidy channels in focus
In its first formal in-depth investigation into a non-European Union bidder on a public tender under a new foreign subsidies regulation, the European Commission has chosen to focus on what it conceives as a disproportionate amount of government funds received by the companies back home compared to the size of …
