News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Friday, April 25, 2025
China joins Trade and Health Initiative It’s gone almost unnoticed, but the Ottawa-Group sponsored ‘trade and healthcare’ initiative is officially expanding, with China joining the group, alongside Hong Kong, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom. The announcement was made official in a communication circulated on 22 April …
The WTO currently comes across as being in a transition. This is predictable at a time of leadership change and renewal at its secretariat. The new director-geneal is interviewing candidates for the post of deputy DG, is pushing the fish-subsidies agenda and potentially steering the WTO institution into a new …
There is clearly more activity at the World Trade Organization than last year – probably even than the year before last. With a new director-general now in office, a date for the next ministerial meeting all set and hope for a more cooperative US administration, this is the time when …
A warning, this column lets off some steam…
It’s turning out to be a busy week at the WTO. WTO community worried by EU vaccine export restrictions It’s as if the WTO secretariat were trolling the European Union. The four deputy directors-general currently running the institution issued a statement on Monday, calling for international cooperation in vaccine production. …
The only thing that is certain in this beginning of the year at the World Trade Organization – a body that is yet awaiting the nomination of its next director-general – is that many members disagree. So they file legal disputes.
The General Council has run into a third day of meetings in Geneva today. At the time of writing, WTO members were still meeting. Despite the intensity of the session, there is a sense of failure as the organisation has not been able to agree on anything except the budget …
Ambassadors to the World Trade Organization are meeting for an intensive two-day General Council meeting where few actual decisions are expected, except the most expedient: adoption of next year’s budget, and, if all goes well, a decision on Thursday (17 December) to ban export restrictions on food items purchased by …
Ahead of the last General Council meeting of the year – the agenda of which is now finally out -, US Ambassador to the WTO Dennis Shea, who represented the Trump administration in Geneva and oversaw the blockage of the Appellate Body, made a farewell speech as he prepares to …
Some developments at the WTO this week…. Negotiators adopt second version of e-commerce agreement draft text Many observers note that negotiations on a text that would set rules for digital trade in the 21st Century have had difficulties making meaningful headway this autumn. Eighty-six WTO members have been looking in …
