Pakistan deepens political crisis and risks losing EU trade privileges
The takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government intensifies the confrontation with Imran Khan’s opposition and threatens to spill over into Pakistan’s…
Trade
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Russia takes over assets of five European companies
Western governments and international legal experts have described the takeovers as unlawful expropriation.
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US proposes fees on Spanish ships and import curbs over port bans
Washington's maritime regulator has found that Spain shut American vessels out of its ports, and wants olive oil, cosmetics and ceramics restricted in response.
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Audi and parent company Volkswagen see big drop in sales
Volkswagen Group deliveries there plunged 38.5 per cent in the third quarter and are down 30.2 per cent year-to-date.
Brussels presses Beijing for import curbs as its own deadline falls due
Maroš Šefčovič lands in China on October 8 with the trade gap widening by about €1 billion a day and no public concession to show for four months of dialogue.
Brussels moves to speed up EU product standards and make them free to read
The European Commission wants to cut standard-setting from six years to four, though it took court rulings to force it to open texts that already carry the force…
Member states back near-zero residue limits for banned pesticides in imported food
The Council has agreed a negotiating mandate that tightens import rules while handing longer approvals to pesticides still used inside the EU.
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EU’s top court rejects Poland’s bid to suspend Mercosur trade deal
The deal also triggered mass protests by European farmers, who fear competition from cheaper imports that do not meet EU standards.
Rama says ‘science’, not ‘ideology’, will decide fate of Kushner project
Albania's Prime Minister used a Brussels platform to defend the Adriatic resort scheme that has brought protesters onto the streets since late May.
Israel expels Dutch diplomats over settlement goods ban
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced the decision on Sunday, once The Hague’s ban on settlement goods had entered into force.
German industry calls for stricter China policy
“Systemic competition with China’s economy is increasingly challenging the open social market economy and requires an appropriate industrial and trade policy…
EU industry ministers still split over where ‘Made in Europe’ ends
France wants public money kept for factories inside the bloc while Germany, Italy and Spain would let trusted partners such as Britain and Canada in.
Kallas presses Tehran for toll-free passage through Hormuz
The EU's foreign policy chief has met Iran's Foreign Minister in New York as Iranian lawmakers advance a bill to penalise ships crossing the strait without permission.
Audi sues German importer over Chinese AUDI electric cars
The cars are the E5 Sportback and the E7X, developed with SAIC Motor for young, tech-minded Chinese buyers and never listed for official sale in Europe.
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What the EU-Philippines free trade deal contains
Brussels and Manila settled the core of an agreement on September 22 that reached well beyond customs duties, though lawyers, legislators and an expiring preference…
EU and Philippines close in on free trade deal after decade of stop-start talks
Brussels and Manila have agreed the bulk of a pact that would scrap tariffs on almost all trade, though public procurement remains unresolved and signing is not…
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Brussels presses Beijing to cap hybrid car exports after imports rise more than tenfold
Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is due in Beijing next month with an October deadline for “tangible results”.
Macron and Trump eye diplomatic fixes for Hormuz without ‘global deal’
The French President has also pressed Washington to speed up interceptor deliveries to Kyiv and has backed an energy truce between Ukraine and Russia.
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What is Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ and how does it work?
A network of ageing tankers grew out of the 2022 oil sanctions and carried more than half of Moscow's seaborne oil in August.
Trump threatens tariffs on the EU over Canada ‘associate member’ plan
The US President said he would hit European exports if he judged closer ties between Brussels and Ottawa to be aimed against Washington.
Trump orders Canadian goods out of US federal purchasing as Brussels courts Ottawa
The memorandum landed as Ursula von der Leyen offered Canada a first-of-its-kind associate membership and Mark Carney prepared to address MEPs in Strasbourg.
Trump pledges to remove US tariff on Irish whiskey at end of Ireland visit
The US President made the promise at a golf prize-giving on a course he owns, giving no date for carving one member state's flagship export out of an EU-wide duty.
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Brussels procurement plan reopens EU split over ‘European preference’
The overhaul would let public buyers turn away bids carrying too little European content, a power free-trading capitals warned against.
EU carbon rules raise costs at Spain’s biggest port as an EU-backed Moroccan port prepares to open
Tanger Med now handles more than twice as many containers as Algeciras, and a second Moroccan hub part-financed by the EBRD is due to start operating this year.
EU not up to the task of fighting illicit tobacco trade, auditors find
The Commission and Member States have taken measures, the auditors say, but the response remains fragmented and is not robust enough.
Jaguar Land Rover to cut about 4,000 jobs
JLR employs about 43,000 people worldwide, including about 34,000 in Britain. A smaller round last year removed about 500 UK management roles.
EU procurement overhaul takes aim at Chinese bidders
Bidders would also have to explain prices falling significantly below competing offers, a provision Euractiv described as a veiled reference to China.
EU suspends Brazilian meat and honey imports over antimicrobial rules
The measure took effect on Thursday, following a decision adopted by the European Commission earlier this year.
Brussels keeps Morocco migration funding on course despite Ceuta breach
The European Commission has called Rabat a strategic partner and confirmed further money for border work, five weeks after tens of thousands crossed into the Spanish…
EU faces new Trump tariffs over Big Tech fines, Britain is spared
The procedure lets Washington impose duties if it finds foreign practices "unreasonable or discriminatory".