Negotiations to upgrade an existing free trade agreement between the European Union and Chile are proceeding at a gentle pace, with progress to note in areas such as services.
Energy & Environment
One hundred WTO members chide new EU pesticides regulations
One hundred WTO members aired concerns about the European Union’s ongoing drive to heavily restrict, if not ban, pesticide use in agriculture at a meeting in Geneva today (9 July).
EU Australia FTA: Labour and environmental issues come into focus
Compared to the ongoing free trade agreement negotiation process with New Zealand, the European Union’s trade talks with Australia are advancing slowly. It’s clear Brussels and Canberra are taking the time they need to bridge wide gaps in the way they conceive some international trade and investment issues. One of …
Comment: Greener or messier EU trade policy going forward?
Will the EU make its trade policy greener in the coming years? If anything, the politics of green trade will become messier, reckons Iana Dreyer.
EU seeks CETA-style investment rules for Energy Charter Treaty
Having obtained the green light from the European Court of Justice for the CETA investment court, the European Commission has wasted no time in proceeding to reform the Energy Charter Treaty. The reform push also covers oil and gas pipeline transit – which will grate with Russia.
Week in Brussels: How the EU battery alliance already permeates EU trade policy
On Thursday (2 May) Germany’s Peter Altmaier, France’s Bruno Le Maire and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic formally launched the European Battery Alliance in Paris. The plan has been in the works in Brussels for almost two years and is the new face of European industrial policy. The aim …
United States eases LNG shipping restraints in view of Europe sales
It’s a case of three interests coming together in the United States: geopolitics, mercantile endeavours and Trumpian electioneering. This time around, the EU had it relatively easy in prompting a significant shift in US domestic regulation. When the European Union and the United States were negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and …
Member states want to be consulted ahead of any EU-US negotiation suspension
The Council’s negotiating directives to the European Commission aim to ease the way towards negotiations with the United States on elimination of tariffs on goods and on conformity assessment. But will they make life easier for transatlantic negotiators? Not really. Member states mainly made amendments to the mandate on elimination …
Unsustainable unilateralism: Sanctions or sustainability compliance
Europe’s efforts towards sustainable trade is a paradox. While it successfully works with sticks and carrots for sustainable fisheries, the EU imposes rules on biofuels that cannot be complied with, writes Hosuk Lee-Makiyama.
Week in Brussels: Trump trouble, Korea labour dispute, Turkey, palm oil fight
It’s been an eventful week, with the EU coming up with new initiatives vis-a-vis China, the European Parliament voting down the EU’s United States trade strategy, a beef deal with Washington, and negotiations going on with Indonesia and Mercosur to try and achieve a free trade agreement with them. In …
