The college of commissioners will meet tomorrow to decide how to deal with data flows in EU trade agreements. According to several sources close to the file, the European Commission might end up not dealing with the matter at all. Despite increasing calls from member states and the European …
EU trade policies
EU, US aren’t acting in good faith on MES, China tells WTO
China tends to play its cards very close to its chest when it comes to World Trade Organization disputes. So Beijing’s decision to publish part of its oral statement to the WTO panel adjudicating its complaint about the EU’s refusal to treat China as a free economy underscores just how …
Week ahead in EU trade: Mexico, farming conference, Export Control Forum, Sri Lanka
The clock is ticking as the EU and Mexico work to secure a framework to upgrade their 17-year-old trade agreement by the end of the month. The two sides made progress on issues including market access and intellectual property during their sixth round of discussions in November, and negotiators held …
A week in Brussels: Brexit Phase 2, China subsidies, net neutrality, robust trade
It’s been an intense week again for EU trade. While trade agreements with far away countries like those in the Mercosur bloc have taken a hit, the trade focus is now clearly shifting closer to home, namely to Brexit. Brexit: Habemus Phase II It was widely expected. Member …
Comment – Why the EU-Mercosur free trade deal could yet again fail
The last moments of a trade negotiation are always highly uncertain. Bluff and brinkmanship are part of the game. Sometimes, someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat and everything falls into place. Yet the petering out of the EU-Mercosur free trade negotiation in Buenos Aires on the sidelines …
Buenos Aires: EU involved in bid to launch e-commerce plurilateral
This article was updated to reflect the final list of signatories of the e-commerce declaration. The four-day ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires that is to end today is not delivering on ‘classic’ World Trade Organization outcomes, such as a trade liberalisation agreement comparable to the updated Information Technology Agreement …
WTO Buenos Aires midway update
We are midway into the Buenos Aires World Trade Organization ministerial meeting. Here’s what’s shaping up: likely no formal deal, all fending for themselves, some serious work on e-commerce going forward – and India in all this. No actual deal, abundant work programmes Negotiators hoped that there could …
Week ahead in EU trade: WTO ministerial, digital trade and China investment
All eyes are on the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires this week. But there are other issues on the table back in Europe: digital and EU-China investment negotiations. All eyes on Buenos Aires There is little hope for a major concrete deliverable at the four-day …
WTO: Fishing for a small deal in Buenos Aires
The World Trade Organization has done a good job of tamping down any expectation that its upcoming ministerial meeting will agree on much of anything.
A week in Brussels: Japan, Brexit compromise, WTO, Mercosur
It’s been an eventful week in Brussels. EU-Japan FTA – on track The EU and Japan finalised their free trade agreement negotiations this morning. The full text of the deal will be available in a few days. These FTA negotiations were politically concluded this summer. Negotiators worked …