Trade

Economy 12-06-2024

UPDATE: EU-China tensions flare up as Chinese government backlashes against EU tariffs announcement

Est. 4min

The EU will put additional tariffs on electric cars produced in China, the European Commission announced on Wednesday (12 June), as preliminary result of a anti-subsidy investigation showed prices being distorted by Chinese state support.

Economy 04-06-2024

How EU-China trade negotiations could play out

Est. 6min

While the imposition of new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles proves controversial within the EU due to the fear of Chinese retaliation, the option of negotiations has been met with increasing attention.

Global Europe 30-05-2024

Limited appetite among member states for EU trade sanctions on Israel

Est. 4min

Amid growing calls for economic sanctions against Israel in view of the worsening humanitarian toll of its military operations in Gaza, EU trade ministers briefly discussed the issue on Thursday (30 May) but remained far from deciding on actual steps.

Turkey should be ‘firmly re-anchored’ in EU, finance minister says

Est. 4min

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday (14 May), Mehmet Şimşek added that the EU and Turkey share “equal blame” for the deterioration in their relationship in recent years.

EU-China 08-05-2024

China’s Xi to woo close ally Hungary with more investment

Est. 4min

On the last leg of his European tour in Hungary, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday (8 May) is expected to tighten ties with Budapest, its closest ally in the European Union. After Paris, Xi's visits to

Economy 04-04-2024

EU officials scramble to prove Trade and Technology Council will survive Trump

Est. 6min

The European Commission played down fears that the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) could succumb to a Donald Trump presidency as pressure on high-level officials from both sides increased ahead of their meeting in Leuven, Belgium, on Thursday (4 April).

Economy 29-03-2024

Macron open to new EU-Mercosur deal

Est. 4min

On a three-day official visit in Brazil, Emmanuel Macron proposed building a "new agreement" between the EU and Mercosur, which his Foreign Minister imagines to be broader than just trade. Critics and supporters of the original deal are now awaiting further details.

Agrifood 27-03-2024

French government refuses to put CETA to parliamentary vote before European elections

Est. 3min

The ratification of CETA, the trade agreement between the EU and Canada, rejected last week by the Senate, will not be submitted to the National Assembly before the European elections, the government has confirmed, so as not to "instrumentalise the debate".

Agrifood 26-03-2024

Macron may ignore the French Parliament if CETA is rejected

Est. 6min

With the Senate having just rejected the trade agreement with Canada (CETA) and a new rejection looming in the National Assembly just before the European elections, France could ignore this decision. The opposition is denouncing this as an anti-democratic move.

Economy 04-03-2024

EU-China trade slips as Beijing ‘de-risks’ from the West

Est. 4min

“We’re not de-risking,” one expert told Euractiv. “What’s happening is that China is not importing from us. And the main reason is that they are substituting our imports.”

Economy 26-02-2024

WTO convenes ministers in UAE with slim hopes for breakthrough

Est. 5min

The world's trade ministers gathered in the UAE on Monday (26 February) for a high-level WTO meeting with no clear prospects for breakthroughs, amid geopolitical tensions and disagreements.

Economy 13-02-2024

EU-Mercosur unlikely to be finalised before the EU elections

Est. 5min

It is highly unlikely that the hotly-contested EU-Mercosur free trade agreement will be concluded before the EU elections in June, French and German MPs familiar with the matter told Euractiv France.

Politics 12-02-2024

German liberals want to renegotiate EU due diligence law, blame Spain

Est. 4min

Germany’s liberal FDP party wants to reopen negotiations on the EU’s Due Diligence Directive after the issue was removed from the agenda of a meeting of EU ambassadors last Friday, which the party says shows the poor quality of the preliminary agreement reached in December.

Economy 10-02-2024

EU announces new ‘interpretation’ of Canada trade deal in bid to ensure ratification

Est. 4min

The European Commission and Canada have agreed on the "interpretation” of parts of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that relate to investor protection from environmental regulation, in a push by Brussels to persuade member states to ratify the bilateral multibillion-euro deal.

Economy 01-02-2024

French Greens urge Macron to form ‘anti-Mercosur coalition’

Est. 5min

In a letter sent on Wednesday (31 January), France's Greens called on President Emmanuel Macron to form a coalition with EU countries that also oppose the EU-Mercosur deal in its current form - an idea Macron's camp has already dismissed as hopeless.

Economy 01-02-2024

EU-US trade and tech talks stutter as decisive April meeting looms

Est. 5min

Top EU officials struggled to keep EU-US trade and tech talks alive this week, with pressure on both sides of the Atlantic rising to lock in a final policy deal before the November US presidential election.

Economy 31-01-2024

Cars v cows: German automakers call to split EU-Mercosur deal to bypass French ‘non’

Est. 6min

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement should be split into two distinctive parts to circumvent French resistance based on agricultural issues, the German car industry has proposed, in a bid to boost export markets other than China.

Agrifood 30-01-2024

Food as movies: The agricultural exception is gaining traction in France

Est. 6min

France's far-right Rassemblement National and far-left LFI are proposing to introduce a form of 'agricultural exception' - which, as is already the case for the arts, would exempt some agricultural products from the EU's free trade agreements with other countries.

German steelmaker states signal support for US-EU industry alliance

Est. 3min

An alliance of German steelmaking states have put their weight behind a global sustainable steel club that the US hopes will reduce China's ability to undercut European and American markets, and welcomed the support for the industry’s green transition.

Agrifood 29-01-2024

France reaffirms opposition to EU-Mercosur deal as farmers’ protests mount

Est. 7min

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and MPs from all sides of the political spectrum have reaffirmed France's opposition to the EU-Mercosur deal in a timely political move as farmers fiercely opposing the deal have stepped up protests and plan to march on Paris.

Economy 26-01-2024

Security or prosperity: Must the EU decide?

Est. 7min

As the EU has presented its shiny new economic security package this week, it will now need to square the circle between security and prosperity.

Economy 24-01-2024

EU hopes to overcome US opposition to WTO ‘court’ as key summit nears

Est. 5min

Ahead of a key summit of members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Abu Dhabi at the end of February, the EU hopes for a reform of the organisation’s “dispute settlement mechanism”, a court-like institution paralysed by the USA.

Economy 20-12-2023

EU Commission postpones reintroduction of steel tariffs until after US election

Est. 4min

The EU Commission on Tuesday (19 December) announced that it would keep tariffs on US steel and aluminium suspended until March 2015 with the goal of reaching a deal on green steel and aluminium until then.

Agrifood 19-12-2023

Chocolate wars as Italian artisans battle Swiss giant

Est. 4min

Turin's famed gianduiotto, a small, creamy chocolate that melts on the tongue, is at the centre of a battle for European recognition pitting Italian artisans against Swiss giant Lindt.