News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Trade sniping out of Washington just doesn’t seem to be ending. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the White House was mulling pulling out of the Government Procurement Agreement, a preferential accord among a subset of mostly rich-country members of the World Trade Organization. China and Russia are in the process of …
The target set to China to increase its imports in a series of products by a value of US$ 200 billion in the next two years set in the so-called Phase One agreement between Washington and Beijing clinched last week will lead to China diverting imports and purchases from other …
With the United States failing to deliver changes to Chinese subsidies and state-owned enterprise practices in the small trade ‘deal’ it is about to sign with Beijing, Washington appears keener to cooperate with other countries to address more ‘structural’ issues with the Asian behemoth. The EU and US are also …
The measure has already been announced this summer. Now it is clearly on its way. One day after the demise of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization, Brussels is pulling out its legislative claws in a move aimed at defending its commercial interests if judicial disputes end ‘in …
There was relief in the World Trade Organization as members agreed to extend for six months the expiring two-year 1998 moratorium on duties on electronic transmission across borders. That’s how low expectations have come to be as the organisation sinks into deep crisis. A feature of that crisis includes being …
It’s been an eventful week on trade – with a deepening WTO crisis, some movement on agriculture, continued uncertainty over the EU Vietnam FTA ratification…. New low in WTO and transatlantic trade relations This week has provided fodder for around-the-clock quotation-chasing media as developments shifted by the day, if not …
The Word Trade Organization was not killed off . But it was put on life support for another year as members in Geneva caved to the United States after it threatened to withhold approval of the next two-year budget for the organisation. Bloomberg reported this afternoon that WTO members accepted …
United States aims to ‘reset’ transatlantic trade relations ring hollow. The US is moving ahead with further import duties on EU products. It is not interested in an OECD agreement on digital taxation. And it has definitely pulled the plug on the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body. The EU for …
It was a low-key gathering of trade ministers in chilly Brussels today. A good moment to gauge the ‘temperature’ on all things trade amongst EU governments. Today should have been the inaugural ministerial gathering for Phil Hogan, the nominated successor to Cecilia Malmström, who led the EU trade portfolio during …
The European Union is still waiting for some form of official announcement on whether the White House will order import duties to be applied to autos and auto parts – or whether it will, as anticipated by most observers on both sides of the Pond – postpone the decision and …
