News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Thursday, January 21, 2021
The EU said it prevailed in its first bilateral FTA panel case against Ukraine in a dispute relating to Ukraine’s export ban on certain wood products, but the ruling also leaves Ukraine room to keep some restrictions. The ruling and the case prove that rules-based resolution of trade disputes remains …
This week has seen two ‘strategic’ initiatives: the launch of a new paper on EU-US relations and the upgrading of EU-ASEAN relations post RCEP. Here other developments of potential interest. Dombrovksis talks to French Senate – Paris CETA ratification date unclear Nobody knows yet when the French government will put …
Good afternoon, an overview of interesting trade policy developments in Brussels this week. 35% of EU exports to be covered by trade agreements in 2024 and other strategic objectives The European Commission’s trade directorate released its 2020 ‘Strategic Plan’ this week. The document spells out how the body will approach …
The European Commission released a new strategy paper that sums up its approach to seeking greater resilience for the European Union during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Trade is a major area of intervention.
The Ottawa Group, an informal network of countries interested in discussing reforms at the World Trade Organization established in early 2019 is seeking improvements in the way trade in healthcare products is handled beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. The signatories are eyeing a possible Joint Statement in early 2021, which …
As ballots were still being counted in the United States presidential elections, Borderlex’s Sarah Anne Aarup spoke to the European Parliament’s international trade committee chair Bernd Lange (S&D). Lange is also rapporteur on EU-United States trade relations.
The European Union will very soon have a revamped ‘enforcement regulation’, a hitherto hardly known legal instrument that allows the bloc to retaliate against countries contravening international trade norms and not cooperating in legal disputes and thus protect itself against ‘appeals into the void’ at the World Trade Organization. The …
It looks like the EU’s ‘enforcement’ agenda for trade rules and trade agreement is now gradually being rolled out. There’s been a lot of discussion on the future direction of trade policy in the European Parliament. Find out more below! By Sarah Anne Aarup and Iana Dreyer.
There is nothing ‘new’ to report from three days of meetings of WTO ambassadors this week under the format of an ‘Informal TNC’ and a ‘General Council’. As usual, the large powers have spent time bickering over ‘market oriented conditions’, ‘special and differential treatment’ for developing countries, dispute settlement, agriculture, …
The EU-US mini trade pact known as the ‘lobster deal’ may not receive the European Parliament’s green light until after the United States elections, according to European lawmakers in the international trade committee meeting today (15 October). In a U-turn, INTA committee chair Bernd Lange (S&D) expressed doubts about endorsing …
