“Human mobility constitutes services trade in its own right, while also enabling trade in goods and other services,” reads a thought-piece on the impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on international trade put together by the secretariat of the World Trade Organization.
Mobility
EU Japan EPA text analysis – Easy on the ambition?
The European Commission published the bulk of the text of the EU Japan Economic Partnership Agreement in early December last year. Below some highlights of the pact and some comments – result of your truly’s Christmas break reading. The deal favours significantly EU exporters and is relatively unambitious in services.
‘Global Britain’ must be open to migrants
Proclaiming that you are open to global trade sits uneasily with being hostile to foreigners. Philippe Legrain on migration and the UK government’s current approach to trade policy.
New TiSA leaks reveal trade treaty innovations, deep divisions
Wikileaks has leaked five negotiation texts pertaining to the Trade in Services Agreement process. The texts bear June and July 2016 dates and were presumably discussed during last round of negotiations in July in Geneva. The revealed texts are: the consolidated version of the core text of TiSA; an EU 30-page …
Lost on the way: a Turkish visa to the EU
Views on what is happening in the EU Turkey relationship diverge at a moment when the EU promises EU accession to a country sliding into authoritarianism in return for stemming migrant flows. Yet at the moment, it all boils down to a bargain on Turkish visas. By Iana Dreyer.
Comment: Labour mobility – EU neighbourhood policy’s new approach wrong-footed
Ahead of important EU meetings this week, namely the Riga Summit with Eastern partners and a new round of trade talks with Morocco, here a long-read on why one of the cornerstones of the EU’s neighbourhood policy overhaul – to limit migration – is flawed economically, politically, and morally. The text explains why the EU must be much …
European trade policy: outlook and challenges for 2015
[sh_light_text ]The new year festivities in Europe are over. In 2015 the EU will face a busy trade policy agenda and some daunting challenges in fulfilling its objectives and promoting its interests. We outline some of them.[/sh_light_text]
Fit for the city? Trade policy and today’s urban economy
[sh_light_text ]Cities are increasingly the locus of the world economy. Since 2007, more than half the world population has been living in cities. The world is continuing to urbanise rapidly. But are today’s trade policies and free trade negotiations up to the task of catering to cities’ needs? A panel …
CETA: Regulated professions empowered to mutually recognise qualifications
[sh_light_text ]Much has been written this summer on the investor-to-state dispute settlement provisions in the Canada EU free trade deal (CETA). Whereas the media has been fixated on this specific controversy, the trade community seems to have missed out on one very interesting development for EU trade policy: for the first time, a Canadian lawyer, …
News update: Take-aways from last week’s TiSA talks
By Iana Dreyer and Jennifer Freedman Governments involved in negotiations to liberalise trade in services (TiSA) reported significant progress during the seventh round of negotiations in Geneva last week. But the actual extent of substantial market liberalisation the countries eventually agree still remains uncertain. Though technical and commercially-focused, …