Sleepless In Xi’an? A New Start for China-Europe Relations
Last Friday, as the European Commission met in conclave to discuss how to get tough with China, a very different debate took place on...
Tariffs, Trump, Terroir
A year’s passed since Donald Trump imposed swingeing “Liberation Day” duties on the US’s trade partners, forcing many to negotiate “reciprocal” trade agreements to...
Just A Flesh Wound
The WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference being held in Yaoundé Cameroon this week broke up in acrimony and disarray in the small hours of yesterday.
Slated...
The Year of Living Dangerously – Europe and US Trade Relations in 2026
Upon entering the White House in January 2025, Donald Trump launched a trade policy ostensibly to reduce the US trade deficit with major partners,...
Negotiations are “A Many Splendored Thing”
In a recent article in Modern Diplomacy I summarised the ten- year negotiations of a Geographical Indications (GIs) Agreement between the EU and China,...
Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones – the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications
The China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications (the GI Agreement) is three years old this year. It was the first - and is so far...
Summarising Proust? How Europe’s trade and sustainability aims are diverging
The European Council’s recent Strategy Statement - setting out priorities for the next five years - said it all. Barely a word about the...
Still Riding the Marrakesh Express: Agriculture in the WTO
1970. The release of one of the greatest albums of all time. “Déjà Vu” by Crosby Stills Nash and Young (CSNY). We used to...
Same Bed, Different Dreams: India and U.S. at the WTO
The WTO holds its biannual Ministerial Conference next week in Abu Dhabi. In theory Ministers are meant to fly in to rubberstamp and celebrate...
Waiting For The Barbarians
It is traditionally held that the two oldest professions in the world are prostitution and politics. I am inclined to add a third -...