News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, May 10, 2025
This week was truly packed with activities and events related to trade. The key focus has been Brexit – the transition period and future EU-UK relationship. These topics we now cover separately in dedicated articles and a new series of blogs, the Brexit Notes. The other key focus this week …
The EU is in the final stages of free trade negotiations with the South American bloc Mercosur. It is readying for the adoption of a new trade agreement with Japan and Vietnam. Anti trade agreement campaign groups have recently stepped up their activities to fight these agreements. A joint …
Mexican and EU negotiators are not closing in on a deal to modernise their almost two-decade-old Global Agreement. Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström and agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan, who had held off a final decision to travel to Mexico City until today to meet the negotiators and broker sensitive compromises, …
Some people are getting impatient about the slow pace of ratification of the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement that was inked in 2015. Now, Vietnam and the European Commission are pointing fingers at each other over the delay. The ‘legal scrubbing’ of the trade deal has dragged on for more …
US proposals on how to punish foreign steel and aluminium exporters for unfair trade practices miss the point and would do more harm than good, European Aluminium says. Global excess capacity – specifically in China – is the “root cause of the main challenges” that the aluminium industry faces …
It’s going to be a packed week in Brussels, with everything from continuing trade talks with Mercosur and Indonesia and a new round of Brexit negotiations. And the European Parliament’s trade committee will also have a couple of busy days this week. EU, Indonesia to exchange tariff offers …
With many people out of town skiing it’s been comparatively quiet in Brussels town itself. A lot happened actually outside of Brussels. Trade pros even got time to write #TradeValentines poems. EU and US join Japan in plans to take China to WTO over tech protectionism A new …
VoteWatchEU released an analysis of the political party landscape in Italy as the Southern European country braces for a long-awaited general election in early March. That landscape is fragmented, with populist parties on the right and left eroding the voter base of Matteo Renzi’s centre-left PD and Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right …
The European Economic and Social Council almost unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday calling on the EU to step up its efforts to give greater weight to labour and environment chapters – known as TSD chapters – in its free trade agreements. This move adds to a rising number of calls on …
Last Friday, the European Commission sent out to member states and MEPs the second version of draft language on data flows for its coming free trade agreements after lengthy internal wrangling between its services. The text will be examined at technical level in the Council this week. A decision …
