An overview of what trade ministers discussed at their informal gathering today in Stockholm.
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Week in Brussels: Transatlantic including Canada, Taiwan
This is proving to be a very long Friday for EU trade as everyone awaits the results of an EU-US negotiation over the US Inflation Reduction Act and as EU trade ministers discuss the trade agenda in Stockholm today. We will revert to these two separately. Meanwhile here is what …
EU sharpens retaliatory toolbox against US, foreign green tech distortions
The European Commission is an expert in brokering political compromises over seemingly technocratic topics. And it delivered this week yet again. This time it is about the question of what to do about the Biden administration’s decision to pour billions into subsidising green technology investments to meet its net-zero climate …
Blog: Canada’s beef with Britain – why the CPTPP accession deal didn’t happen
Pressure from Canada for improved access to the UK’s market for agricultural products is blocking the conclusion of talks on UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to people close to the negotiations. There had been hopes, widely reported in some media, that last week’s …
Week in London: Trade remedies policy, border operating model, Canadian minerals
The government’s ‘power grab’ over trade remedies policy intensifies this week. But where has that UK border operating model got to? UK government to gain new executive powers over trade remedies policy The UK government has consolidated its executive grip over UK trade remedies policy with a set of extensions …
EU, Mercosur pick up deal discussion
The EU and Mercosur blocs have agreed on a “work schedule for the first half of 2023” in an attempt to agree on additional sustainability provisions to be inserted within the bilateral association agreement. In meetings this week in Buenos Aires, negotiators from the two sides discussed “the three dimensions …
EU trade minister Stockholm meeting: what to expect
EU trade ministers will gather outside Stockholm at the end of this week at a time when trade appears to be rising to the top of the political agenda once again in Europe.
WTO Corner: TRIPS waiver deadlock; WTO reform; new committee chairs
Discussions about whether a special waiver on WTO intellectual property rules should apply to Covid-19 therapeutic and diagnostic products as well as vaccines look set to drag on, following an inconclusive debate on the subject at this week’s meeting of the WTO’s controlling general council.
THINK TANK: Gender, investment, and digital fragmentation risks
Think tankers have been busy, with gender, investment and digital overarching themes. A selection of the latest work by international trade policy think tanks by Maia Wilson, with some input from Iana Dreyer.
WTO investment facilitation deal: two items outstanding
WTO members are targeting the last week before Easter to wrap up negotiations on the substance of the proposed new agreement on ‘investment facilitation for development’, with only two key issues still awaiting resolution.
