With input from Chris Horseman. The week in EU trade was dominated by preparations for trade agreement negotiations with Britain next month and Phil Hogan’s delicate trip to the United States. Hogan’s tweets mention meetings with members of Congress and the Senate and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The ‘big’ meeting …
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
Hogan: US and EU should whitelist mutual investments and export control measures
Beaming in from Washington into a conference hosted by former trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in London on Thursday, Phil Hogan gave a most down-to-earth assessment of the current trade policy situation in Washington. Hogan’s approach to the United States so far is to seek to avoid further escalation of bilateral …
Japan-US-EU trilateral conversations on China resume in Washington
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 …
Week in Brussels: Breton data localisation statements, EU US, Vietnam FTA, IP
This week was mainly about the EU getting back into business mode. The main focus has been on preparing the ground for trade negotiations starting next month with the United Kingdom and managing transatlantic relations. More below. Commissioner Breton toys with idea of a data localisation obligations for business data …
Week in Brussels: See you in Davos for e-commerce, Habemus Korea panel, China
E-commerce negotiators gear up for intense first half of 2020 After a stock-taking meeting in Geneva early this week, negotiators involved in the plurilateral negotiations on e-commerce decided there would be a ministerial meeting on the talks in January 2020 at the annual global elite meeting in Davos. The Davos …
New Zealand and Chile FTA updates
EU, New Zealand set mid-2020 target for FTA conclusion The EU and New Zealand are targeting conclusion of their negotiations for a new free trade agreement by the middle of 2020, following a generally upbeat assessment of the most recent round of talks in Wellington on 10-13 December. Participants in …
Hogan pledges dialogue with US on French digital tax
That was a pretty lonely affair for France. The European Parliament’s very last plenary last session in Strasbourg this week was dedicated to one of the most difficult and high-profile trade topics at the moment: transatlantic trade relations. More precisely the topic was the threat of new tariffs from Washington …
Comment: Mercosur – a dialogue of the deaf?
On Wednesday the European Parliament held a snap debate on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and whether it was compatible with the Green Deal announced by Commission von der Leyen. The Mercosur text’s examination and ratification process have not yet started. Said text is not yet even entirely consolidated. Yet the …
Cañas: EU can’t afford to walk away from Mercosur trade agreement
In a wide-ranging interview with Borderlex’s Chris Horseman, MEP Jordi Cañas discusses the significance of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and explains how he envisages the ratification process for this agreement.
Indonesia’s WTO complaint against the EU’s renewable energy directive: what’s in it
It took Indonesia a long time to move from threat to action: but now we have the complaint filed by Jakarta against the European Union’s REDII directive in its relation to imported biofuels. The Indonesian complaint also targets France’s tax exemptions for biofuels – which do not cover biodiesel based …
