The arrest of a Saigon-based trade agreement critic and independent journalist complicates the European Parliament’s final preparations to ratify a landmark trade agrement and an accompanying investment protection accord with Vietnam.
EU trade policies
New EU procurement legislation: still “long way to go”
The Finnish presidency of the European Council has tried to bring forward discussions among member states on how to bring forward a piece of legislation on public procurement aimed at creating ‘leverage’ vis-à-vis third countries with procurement markets that exclude European firms. The talks have started again, but the Council …
US to increase tariffs on EU products following second Airbus ruling, digital tax plans
United States aims to ‘reset’ transatlantic trade relations ring hollow. The US is moving ahead with further import duties on EU products. It is not interested in an OECD agreement on digital taxation. And it has definitely pulled the plug on the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body. The EU for …
In brief: WTO panel largely rebuffs EU compliance claims in Airbus case
The European Union was largely rebuffed in a second compliance report it requested regarding subsidies to Airbus today at the World Trade Organization in Geneva. US tariffs introduced against the EU in retaliation for these subsidies are already in place. These tariffs were authorised in October by a WTO arbitrator …
Comment: The new European Commission’s key trade challenges ahead
Trade policy will be an instrument of choice for the new European Commission’s ambitious foreign and climate policy. But the von der Leyen programme also reveals many blind spots – not least on how to succeed in overhauling the World Treade Organization and in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, opines Iana …
EU GSP: Three countries to be removed, vulnerability thresholds amended
Today, the Commission made official its intention to remove Nauru, Samoa and Tonga from its list of beneficiaires under its General System of Preferences. It also released an amendment to a ‘vulnerablity threshold’ that caps imports of certain products into the EU. “The recent release of World Bank statistics (1 …
Week in Brussels: Singapore services, Indonesia, trade opinion and the European urban middle class
All good things happen on a Friday afternoon when everyone wants to head off into the week-end: the EU just released its offer to the United States towards the conformity assessment agreement they are currently negotiating. If you were wondering what to read over the week-end, here it is! High …
FAC Trade roundup – Appellate Body, China, responsible business conduct
It was a low-key gathering of trade ministers in chilly Brussels today. A good moment to gauge the ‘temperature’ on all things trade amongst EU governments. Today should have been the inaugural ministerial gathering for Phil Hogan, the nominated successor to Cecilia Malmström, who led the EU trade portfolio during …
EU steel safeguard focus point in WTO meeting
Usually World Trade Organization ‘safeguard committees’ are an understated, quiet affair. But Monday’s meeting in Geneva was different as it looked at a record number of 45 safeguard measures taken by members in recent months. The European Union’s own steel safeguard, in force since July 2018 and revised last month, …
Cambodia EBA withdrawal: Democracy enforcement by administrative fiat?
The European Commission is handling a major file related to upholding international democracy norms in Cambodia through trade policy in a rather secretive fashion. Is it really following the rules in doing so? The Cambodian government has one month to respond to calls from the European Union to give opposition …
