Insights

From 12-17 June, trade ministers gathered in Geneva for the long-awaited 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) and achieved agreement on a series of reforms after several years of deadlock. These include an intellectual property waiver for covid-19 vaccines, the WTO response to the pandemic, a moratorium on e-commerce duties, and the partial elimination of fisheries…

On June 6th, the US Department of Energy (DOE) published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to release a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for at least four Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) in the September/October timeframe. The NOI outlined DOE priorities for successful applications for the $8bn authorised by the November 2021 landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs…

In addition to being a signature item for Schumer, President Biden has also prioritized this bill as one of his best chances to notch a legislative win with his Build Back Better plan stalled. While the Bipartisan Innovation Act enjoys support from both sides of the aisle, the conference committee is grappling with contentious provisions on trade and other issues that…

In a speech in London in late April, the British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, declared that “faced with appalling barbarism and war crimes, which we’d hoped had been consigned to history, the free world has united behind Ukraine in its brave fight for freedom and self-determination”. Revealed positions do not support the rhetoric. In the UN General Assembly Vote which…

If the UK is genuinely committed to being a leading global financial services centre then it is going to need to expand the public policy bandwidth and regulatory capacity available to manage a rapidly changing and innovative ecosystem.  

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has declared that nothing is off-limits in terms of sanctioning individuals to put pressure on Putin and his Ukraine policy. In this week’s podcast, we ask how far this no-holds barred approach is true, not just in Russia but also more broadly. Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fundamentally changed the UK’s willingness to go after “the bad…

Global Counsel has supported the UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in producing a new flagship trade and investment strategy for the UK’s food and drink sector. As the UK sets out a broad new trade policy outside the EU and seeks new and updated free trade agreements, it needs a refreshed trade policy for the sector that addresses imports and exports, sustainability and…

Welcome to Top in Tech, your guide for navigating and understanding the European 'tech-lash', the frontline of a new push to regulate the technology sector. Each month, the Global Counsel team will bring you inside the latest debates, proposals, and laws shaping the conversation in Brussels, London, and across the world.

Introducing Global Counsel’s Small Modular Reactor Matrix

In his speech to Davos last week, President Zelensky proposed that frozen Russian assets “should be allocated to a special fund to compensate all the victims of the war”, adding that this would set a useful global precedent in deterring future aggressors. Voices in favour of the proposal are gaining force, particularly in the US, on both moral and practical grounds. 

After almost a decade of centre-right leadership, Anthony Albanese emerged as Australia’s new Prime Minister following this week's elections. Yet uncertainty remains; Albanese's Labor Party ran on few policy specifics beyond a repudiation of incumbent Scott Morrison's guarded approach to climate, and surging turnout for the Greens prevented them from securing an outright…

Regulating the future workplace is Global Counsel’s new report on the future of employment regulation. The report examines the impact of technology on our workplaces and considers the views of businesses on the need for new regulations. Based on a survey of over 200 business leaders, this is the first report of its kind, previewing the issues that will define the modern…

Although the Biden administration has prioritized the US energy transition like no previous administration has, we are seeing a surge in fossil fuel extraction, export, and use. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and pandemic-related supply chain bottlenecks have inflamed US fossil usage. But the geopolitical imperative to export energy to US allies held captive to Russian…

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there’s been a lot of talk about the return of history. post-1989 assumptions that liberal democracy and open markets were the single models on which most countries would converge now look naïve at best.

On Wednesday, Finland and Sweden submitted official applications to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). For decades, these countries have favoured military non-alignment. So why have they abandoned this stance, and what does it mean for NATO security and wider geopolitical relations?

This week, the Trade and Technology Council (TTC), which has become the main forum for EU-US cooperation on digital policy, met for the second time in Saclay, on the outskirts of Paris. The TTC has played an important role in resetting the EU-US relationship. A tangible example of this improved collaboration was last month’s agreement in principle on a new EU-US data…

A core lesson across infrastructure projects is all too often the attention has been on ambitious targets, rather than the nitty-gritty of delivery. This is timely as we look ahead to the European Commission’s “REPowerEU” plan published on Wednesday. Updating a previously hastily-assembled package in March, this will accelerate plans to reduce and stop fossil fuel imports…

Last week’s price collapse of algorithmic stablecoin Terra has highlighted regulatory concerns surrounding stablecoins as U.S. policymakers have continued to examine potential policy frameworks for the growing asset class. As of this writing, Terra continues to trade well below its $1 target peg while sister token Luna has also plummeted in value, catalysed by a downdraft…