Archive - Trade Notes

FTAs: "Forward Most-Favoured-Nation" treatment on the table in India-US negotiations

Reuters reported last week that India may be considering offering a “forward most-favoured-nation” (MFN) clause in the trade agreement it is negotiating…

May 8 •

April 2025

RCEP: Insiders' views of the RCEP negotiations - interviews with RCEP negotiators

For those following trade agreement negotiations, I recently came across an open access book published in February that will likely be of interest. It…

Apr 21 •

US: Initial reactions to Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs - minimal retaliation, lots of negotiations, early signs of cooperation

A week is now a long time in trade policy and for the past week I’ve been tracking the various reactions to the US’s so-called reciprocal tariffs (now…

Apr 12 •

US: Reactions to Trump's so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs - retaliations, disputes, and other comments

I did not intend to do two Trump-related posts in a row, but I have been tracking the recent tariff announcements (as have many others) and I thought it…

Apr 3 •

March 2025

Digital: Trump on Digital Trade Regulations - "Overseas Extortion", "Unfair Fines" and violations of "American sovereignty"

Last month we got to see the Trump Administration’s most direct action yet on digital trade issues in the form of a Memorandum on “Defending American…

Mar 24 •

February 2025

WTO: Australia successfully defends its implementation of the Services Domestic Regulation plurilateral in its GATS Schedule

Earlier this month, the Findings of the Arbitration initiated by India against Australia regarding Australia's implementation of the Services Domestic…

Feb 20 •

January 2025

2025: What's interesting (to me) in trade in 2025

Once again, after a lengthy summer break, I thought a good way to start the year for Trade Notes would be to preview what I’ll be paying particular…

Jan 31 •

November 2024

Digital: EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement - making exceptions clear and a slightly different model for DTAs

A couple of thoughts on the new EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement and how it continues the EU's approach of saying more rather than less on data flow…

Nov 9, 2024 •

October 2024

CPTPP: A long but mild complaint about the transparency and accessibility of CPTPP records

Properly following CPTPP implementation (or searching CPTPP records) requires jumping across various government websites and often knowing specifically…

Oct 1, 2024 •

September 2024

CPTPP: Overthinking the entry into force of the United Kingdom's Accession Protocol - rules of origin and decision-making

While the UK's CPTPP Accession Protocol enters into force on 15 December, this may not apply for up to five CPTPP Parties who are yet to ratify the…

Sep 2, 2024 •

July 2024

Digital: The WTO E-Commerce JSI's Stabilised Text - what does it deliver, who couldn't support it, and what are its next steps?

I take a look at what the proposed E-Commerce JSI's Stabilised Text would deliver for digital trade, what might be driving the nine participants who…

Jul 29, 2024 •

Digital: What's new in the June WTO JSI E-Commerce Text

Bilaterals.org recently obtained a copy of the latest draft negotiation text for the JSI E-Commerce from 28 June. This post sketches out the key…

Jul 15, 2024 •

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