Insights

The European Commission’s new proposals for EU Customs Union reform are designed to deliver a more coherent and integrated Customs Union. Since the creation of the Customs Union in 1968, subsequent reform has produced one of the most complex bodies of EU law without changing the basic reality of ‘one code, multiple systems’ that has always defined – and to some degree…

The next major point of friction in transatlantic trade relations is emerging around policies to support the domestic electric vehicles industry. The EU has raised grievances around the potential discriminatory effects of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States – which includes tax credits and incentives for US battery and electric vehicle…

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, delivered her third state of the European Union speech on September 14th before the European Parliament, giving sight of her priorities for 2023 and using a rare public platform to speak more directly to audiences beyond the immediate EU stakeholders. 

Global Counsel members Alessandro Gangarossa and Felicity Hall are joined by Anders Rehnberg to discuss the EU's proposal Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence.

Anikó Zsebik, Yi-Fang Lee and Alessandro Gangarossa unpack a recent trade squabble between Lithuania and China over the former’s new Taiwan-friendly policies.

What does the US-EU-Japan trilateral partnership mean for trade policy?

A striking element of the current European Commission is its emphasis on supporting individual technologies, sectors and “ecosystems”. 

This week, Trade and Manufacturing Practice Lead Daniel Capparelli is joined by Senior Associate in our US office Miranda Lutz, and Brussels office Associate Alessandro Gangarossa. They discuss the Biden administration's approach to trade as Katherine Tai, his nominee for USTR representative nears confirmation from the Senate.

The EU’s new trade strategy unveiled last week has the ambition to guide Brussels’ trade policymaking for the next decade. But what is notable about it is the way that it actually struggles to set out a clear and unequivocal direction for policy. Instead, it tries to strike a difficult balance between two conflicting impulses on free trade and growing inward-looking…

The emergence of fragmented political landscapes has been an increasingly shared phenomena in European capitals in the past decade. The financial crisis was a profound shock for many European traditional centre-left and centre-right parties, which were dropped by the electorates both for their handling of the crisis and its aftermath. In their wake, smaller, often less…

This week’s decision by the EU to hold off on retaliatory tariffs against US subsidies to the aircraft manufacturer Boeing is a sign of Brussels’ interest in working towards resetting transatlantic relations after the US elections. The possibility of a new president in the White House potentially means reduced trade tensions with the EU. But those thinking that this reset…

The European Commission’s executive vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, has now formally taken on his new responsibilities as trade commissioner. His appointment raises the trade portfolio to the same level as the executive vice presidencies leading on the green and digital transitions. EU trade policy will be seen as strategically instrumental to deliver on the…

Last week Italy overwhelmingly approved proposals to reduce the size of its parliament with a 70%-30% referendum vote. Six major regions also elected local governments, which yield real power in Italy. These delivered a tie between the centre-left coalition and the right-of-centre bloc, each securing three regions. The elections and the referendum offered almost the…

One year after the EU adopted its first framework on foreign investment screening, the covid-19 crisis is prompting EU capitals to tighten their investment screening mechanisms in material ways. In many cases, these changes are an acceleration of an existing trend rather than genuine emergency measures – and as such may point towards a structural rather than a temporary…

September 10th provided a rare boost for pro-Europeans in the euro zone’s third largest economy. Movimento 5 Stelle’s Giuseppe Conte won approval in parliament for his new government, replacing the nationalist Lega with the centre-left Partito Democratico. Former PD prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, also secured the important economic affairs portfolio in the European…