News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, May 9, 2025
EU leaders will be in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Varna today to meet with Turkish counterparts including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is hoping to hear some good news about plans to begin technical talks on their bilateral customs union. He’s likely to be disappointed. And US tariffs on goods …
It’s been a momentous week in EU trade. We had the Trump tariff exemption saga in Brussels, and the next phase of Brexit negotiations agreed today by the member states. For Brexit, we have in principle: a transitional period combined with relatively clean withdrawal terms, and initial guidelines for a …
EU free trade negotiations, ratifications and mandate releases have been on the slow lane recently compared to other trade policy files, as President Donald Trump and Brexit grab headlines and policymakers’ attention. Here’s an overview of where we are on the various files. Mercosur EU-Mercosur FTA negotiations are …
Russia has largely lost its appeal of a World Trade Organization ruling that faulted dumping duties on certain Italian and German light commercial vehicles. Today’s Appellate Body ruling means Moscow must remove the levies or face possible retaliation by the European Union. The case marked the first time a …
Signals coming from Washington indicate that the EU has been successful in landing an exemption from import tariffs on steel and tariffs asked for by President Donald Trump. According the US administration, these tariffs won’t kick in tomorrow as planned. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said these measures were a …
An informal understanding not to ramp up tensions in the World Trade Organization and an overture by Germany’s Peter Altmaier to the US on talking about trade tariffs indicate the EU and the rest of the world are trying to avoid a descent into tit-for-tat trade escalation as Washington readies …
European Union member states’ mandate to the European Commission to lead negotiations to establish a multilateral investment court look very different from the text the executive body tabled to them last September. What emerges clearly from the text: member states want full control of the process. Council members today …
Two of the biggest trade issues hanging over the EU will be on various agendas this week: the draft Brexit withdrawal and transition agreement, and the bloc’s ongoing efforts to avoid pending US steel and aluminium tariffs. European leaders are set to accept the draft agreement, but it’s anyone’s guess …
Almost all of the more than 50 World Trade Organization members that India invited to next week’s “mini-ministerial” plan to attend, but the two-day meeting is expected to accomplish little to tackle problems that have dogged the WTO for years. India decided to hold the informal gathering after the …
To avert tariffs on steel and aluminium, the EU might consider developing its own ‘golf course diplomacy’, if one follows the friendly advice of a former US diplomat. The EU is trying to convince the United States to exempt it from planned punitive tariffs on its exports of steel …
