News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, May 1, 2025
In one month, the WTO’s Appellate Body will only have three members left. The United States blocked the reappointment of its latest outgoing member, Shree Babu Chekitan Servansing. Since 2016, Washington has been blocking the appointment of the seven-member body. The US argues that the WTO’s top judges are overstepping …
Turkey is definitely not playing chicken when it comes to standing up to US pressure. Ankara has responded to a US decision to double duties on Turkish steel and aluminium by raising its own tariffs on nearly two dozen American products, announcing a boycott of US electronics such as iPhones …
Russia has lost its central argument in a four-year-old World Trade Organization complaint challenging the EU’s energy market laws: the right of the bloc to prevent a single company from owning both natural gas pipelines and distribution networks. The WTO ruled today that certain energy-supply measures imposed by the EU …
Pretty much everyone seems to agree now that the World Trade Organization needs a facelift. However, there is anything but agreement on just how to do it.
The Trump administration’s trade complaints against import duties applied by Canada, China, the EU, Mexico and Turkey on US goods are short and sweet – and almost identical. Washington argues that the measures are discriminatory and, except in the case of Mexico, they exceed permitted duty rates. The US lodged …
The EU’s proposals to overhaul the World Trade Organization are gaining traction among some if its leading members. The reform momentum, triggered by the Appellate Body member nomination crisis and the United States’ unilaterally imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium, appears to have elicited a US riposte with new proposals …
Washington has hit back at five World Trade Organization members for “illegal” tariffs that were imposed on US products in response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply duties on foreign steel and aluminium. The US announcement today that it had filed five complaints targeting the EU, China, Canada, Mexico and …
The EU is stepping up the pace in bringing forward a World Trade Organization reform agenda announced this spring as the crisis over Appellate Body nominations deepens in Geneva and the world entered the turbulent waters of tit-for-tat trade retaliation in the aftermath of the US decision to impose unilateral …
This is a week of summits and negotiations: the EU will start talks with New Zealand, continue discussions with Mercosur and hold high-level meetings with China and Japan (delayed from last week). And toward the end of the week, when the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body meets, we might …
US tariffs on Chinese goods kicked in today. So did Chinese duties on US products. Chalk up at least another two trade restrictions that will be added to the World Trade Organization’s next semi-annual listing of barriers erected by Group of 20 economies. Earlier this week, the WTO issued …
