All roads lead to Geneva: Insights from MC14

From 26 March to the early hours of 30 March 2026, ministers from WTO Members met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference. The goal was to review the past two years of negotiations and deliver outcomes on the MC14 agenda. Coined the Reform Ministerial, most discussions focused on the WTO's future amidst existing challenges and opportunities. And because it was held in an African country, the MC14 strongly emphasised development-related issues. However, the current geopolitical context affected expectations for MC14, resulting in broad and vague ministerial documents and declarations. WTO negotiations depend on what WTO Members can agree on by consensus. Conflicting interests and diverging interpretations of even cornerstone rules, such as the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, made significant progress difficult. MC 14 outcomes MC14 outcomes were reached in advance and only formalised in Yaoundé. WTO Members agreed to continue negotiating fisheries subsidies, with a goal to achieve a comprehensive Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS2) during MC15. Since AFS1 entered into force on 15 September 2025, Members have until September 2029 to adopt AFS2. Failure to do so will result in the current agreement being terminated (unless the General Council decides otherwise). Ministers also adopted two decisions on [...]

By |2026-03-31T14:30:54+01:0031 March 2026|Blog, International Trade|1 Comment
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Free Trade with MERCOSUR: An attractive opportunity for the UK?

After a negotiation process characterised by long periods of stagnations and disagreements[1], on the 17th of January, a Partnership Agreement was signed between the European Union and the four founding members of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR, as known in Spanish): Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay[2]. This free trade agreement is meant to eliminate tariffs on 91% of EU exports to the South American bloc. This will be done over a 15-year phase-in period, paired with the removal of duties on 92% of MERCOSUR goods sold to the EU, within a 10-year timeframe. There is uncertainty regarding the ratification and implementation of this deal, due to a recent decision by the European Parliament to refer the agreement to the EU Court of Justice. Nevertheless, the economic size of the parties involved (estimated at 18% of the world’s GDP), along with the current context in which traditional large trading partners are becoming less reliable, has generated global interest. Such deal could constitute an example for other economies seeking to secure free trade with like-minded partners. It would allow them to diversify their trade portfolio and diminish their dependence on potentially problematic counterparts. If the deal goes ahead, EU exporters will secure [...]

By |2026-03-03T15:21:34+00:003 March 2026|Blog, International Trade, UK - Non EU|0 Comments
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Alignment with limits and safeguards: EFRA’s key recommendations for a UK-EU SPS Agreement

The House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has recently published a report responding to the political commitment made at the May 2025 UK–EU Summit to negotiate a common sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) area, with an ambition to conclude negotiations by early 2027. Entitled ‘UK–EU agritrade: making an SPS agreement work’, the report sets out recommendations aimed at ensuring that any future SPS framework is economically beneficial, constitutionally accountable and operationally workable. At its core, the report accepts the economic case for closer regulatory cooperation with the European Union. It recognises the potential benefits of reducing border friction, supporting supply chain resilience and strengthening food security. However, it does not endorse alignment without qualification. Rather, the Committee advances what might be described as an approach of alignment, with limits and safeguards: supporting the negotiation of a common SPS area while seeking targeted exemptions in sensitive areas; calling for robust parliamentary oversight; and insisting on mechanisms to ensure that UK scientific evidence and domestic policy choices are properly reflected in future regulatory developments. Crucially, as a precondition for achieving these safeguards, the Committee urges that the scope of the negotiations is clearly defined and published at an early [...]

By |2026-02-20T17:06:11+00:0020 February 2026|Blog, UK- EU|0 Comments
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Why does the India-EU FTA matter?

The India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) hailed as the “mother of all deals” by both the EU and India, has been under negotiation since 2007. Since the text of the agreement is not available yet to fully verify this claim, it is worth evaluating what can be gleaned about the agreement from the documents released by both sides so far (the EU and India). The Highlights Goods The biggest immediate gain for both sides appear to be on goods, and both parties’ statements focus on these. The coverage appears significant. The FTA reduces tariffs on textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, chemicals, sports goods, toys, gems, and jewellery by India. For the EU, the gains lie in industrial goods, precision machinery, electrical equipment, aviation components, medical devices and other advanced tech. Beyond that, India reducing the high tariffs on cars (although subject to TRQ) is a significant win for the EU. Removing tariffs on chocolate and olive oil altogether, reducing tariffs on wine and spirits, and apples and pears is the cherry on top for the EU’s agriculture sector. Both sides targeted the low hanging fruits and pushed liberalisation of the more controversial goods for further down the road. Sensitive agricultural products [...]

By , |2026-02-18T14:27:39+00:0018 February 2026|Blog, International Trade|0 Comments
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A beginner’s guide to economic security: What it means for trade

This blog is part of our ‘Beginner’s Guide’ series; insightful, accessible explainers of all things trade. The author of this instalment is Minako Morita-Jaeger, a Senior Research Fellow in International Trade and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) at the University of Sussex. In this piece, Minako explores the concept of economic security, highlighting how it has became a strategic tool of power whilst offering a way forward. If you wish to deepen your knowledge on trade policy, check out the CITP’s Online Diploma in International Trade Policy.  The return of President Trump to the White House has brought renewed attention to the relationship between trade and national security. This situation raises questions about how governments should respond to increasing pressure to protect economic security while upholding an open and rules-based trading system. What is economic security? The concept of economic security has evolved over the years, reflecting shifting global and domestic circumstances since the end of World War II. Different governments frame economic security risks and threats in various ways, which means there is no universally accepted definition. However, in terms of values, it broadly refers to the absence of a threat of severe deprivation [...]

By |2026-05-06T09:15:50+01:007 January 2026|Begginer's Guides, Blog, International Trade|0 Comments
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A critical look at the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy

The UK has now released its new Critical Minerals Strategy which outlines the prospective domestic and international policy actions that the UK Government will take, or will consider, in its pursuit of critical minerals security. By doing so, the UK joins a host of regions (the United States, EU, Canada, Australia, Japan, African countries) that have emphasised the central role of critical minerals in their trade policies, foreign policies, and green industrial strategies. These regions also published their respective strategic approaches to critical minerals recently. There is a powerful narrative in developed economies regarding the indispensability of critical minerals for national and economic security, seeking to strengthen supply chains and make them more resilient by reducing ‘import dependence’ imports and diversifying international sourcing. Concern over  Chinese, near-monopolistic involvement in critical minerals supply chains, which could be weaponised, provides the main geopolitical context for most of these actions. At the same time, mineral-rich countries, which range from those in the developing world (including African and Southeast Asian countries) to Australia and Canada, are looking to leverage their mineral wealth to secure their own mineral-led industrial futures while exploring the right policy mix to attract investments and provide secure partnerships to access-seeking [...]

By , |2025-12-09T11:47:28+00:009 December 2025|Blog, International Trade, UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments
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The UK-US ‘geopolitical’ deal: A dangerous precedent for the UK and the world

We are living in a geopolitical world. While states may cloak their actions in legal justifications or economic reasoning, trade has become a tool to assert power, control narratives, and forge alliances. Trade deals are being designed to reduce vulnerabilities, not barriers. The recently announced US-UK deal is not a traditional trade agreement but a ‘geopolitical’ deal strongly reflecting the US’s geopolitical rivalry against China. Lacking the legally binding nature of international agreements, the deal sidesteps legal frameworks and instead stakes its importance on strategic alignment. As such, it signals a broader shift in how the US, which has its global leadership threatened by the rise of China as a superpower, now uses trade policy: not as a matter of market efficiency or legal commitments, but as an instrument of geopolitical influence and national security. Furthermore, the deal clearly shows the second Trump administration’s strong intention to force trade partners to collude with the US to squeeze China from global supply chains. Securitising supply chains At face value, the deal includes a few economic concessions, conditional on fulfilling security-related requirements. For example, the US has agreed to reduce tariffs on British steel, aluminium, and automobiles. In return, the UK will [...]

By , |2025-05-14T09:49:44+01:0014 May 2025|Blog, International Trade, UK - Non EU|0 Comments
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What has happened to UK-Japan trade one year after signing the CEPA FTA?

8 August 2022 Minako Morita-Jaeger is Policy Research Fellow at the UK Trade Policy Observatory andSenior Research Fellow in International Trade in the Department of Economics, University of Sussex. Guillermo Larbalestier is Research Assistant in International Trade at the University of Sussex and Fellow of the UKTPO. The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) came into force in January 2021, as part of the UK’s post-Brexit trading arrangements. CEPA was designed to largely replicate the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), to which the UK had been a party. On the face of it, there was little additional economic value to the UK, since CEPA provisions follow EPA provisions so closely, except for a chapter on digital trade. […]

By , |2025-07-17T16:36:25+01:008 August 2022|Blog, UK - Non EU|55 Comments
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The UK-Australia FTA – Can we call it a good deal?

4 March 2022 Minako Morita-Jaeger is Policy Research Fellow at the UK Trade Policy ObservatorySenior Research Fellow in International Trade in the Department of Economics, University of Sussex The UK signed a bilateral FTA with Australia on 17th December 2021. The Agreement is currently under UK parliamentary scrutiny for a three-month period until the middle of March. This is the first FTA the UK has negotiated with a trade partner ‘from scratch’. The Agreement is potentially an important benchmark for future trade negotiations, notably the ongoing application by the UK for accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). […]

By |2025-07-18T09:46:24+01:004 March 2022|UK - Non EU|2 Comments
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The value of the CPTPP for the UK

3 February 2021 Michael Gasiorek is Professor of Economics and Director of the UKTPO.  Guillermo Larbalestier is Research Assistant in International Trade, and Nicolo Tamberi is Research Officer in Economics, both for the UKTPO. As widely anticipated and signalled in advance, the International Trade Secretary announced on Monday 1 February that the UK notified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), of its intention to join. The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between 11 ‘Pacific’ countries which was signed in 2018.[1] This is an early step in the UK’s newfound and hard-won sovereign and independent trade policy. […]

By , , |2025-07-18T10:13:28+01:003 February 2021|UK - Non EU|10 Comments
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