Growing pressure on EU–Morocco trade deal as French farmers today launch legal steps and storm Azura’s entry point for Western Sahara produce in Perpignan.
The resource contains visual summaries to help break down the controversial Investor–State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism built into many trade and investment agreements.
As the UN climate conference began in Belem, Brazil last week, an official UN report explicitly called out Investor-State Dispute Settlement in trade agreements as a systemic barrier to financing climate action in developing countries.
In mid-December, EU governments will decide whether to move ahead with the controversial EU–Mercosur trade deal. It risks increasing low-standard imports, putting farmers under more pressure, and weakening health and environmental protections.
The prime minister may describe the Pakistan-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as being in its “final stages”, but the real question is whether the country knows what to do with trade agreements at all.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri noted that PM Modi and President Putin discussed fast-tracking the India-EAEU Free Trade Agreement (EAEU: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan) to address India’s trade deficit. Terms of reference were finalized during EAM S. Jaishankar’s November Moscow visit.
While Bangladesh Commerce Adviser enthusiastically touted a potential FTA with Thailand as a game-changer for maritime and logistics connectivity—aiming to supercharge bilateral trade and investment—such optimism warrants scrutiny amid Bangladesh’s persistent economic hurdles like infrastructure bottlenecks and regulatory red tape.
The agreement includes more comprehensive regulations spanning duty-free cross-border electronic transmission, transnational data transmission, paperless trade, personal data.