A former EU trade negotiator reflects on the winners and losers in the new EU-India deal. The big question is whether this agreement signifies a tectonic shift in world trade: the world’s two biggest democracies, the second and fourth largest economies, asserting common values in the face of a rogue US and a hostile China? The EU certainly likes to think so.
Twenty years ago as a mid-ranking official in the European Commission, I was told to develop an EU regulation requiring products to be labelled “Made in Europe”. That particular poisoned chalice did not go ahead, but now it’s coming around again, writes former EU trade negotiator John Clarke.
The EU is not used to negotiating with a mega bully in this manner and is only now, very late in the day, finding out that its standard approach of seeking compromise and mutual gains is mocked by the White House, writes former EU trade negotiator John Clarke.
What will we see the Trump 2.0 administration do on Europe’s ‘geographical indicator’ foods, like Feta and Chablis? The sector is convenient for retaliatory trade measures given its high political visibility, the fact that GIs tend to be price-premium products and not needed commodities, and are not normally part of complex international supply chains.