Europe reaches an agreement with the Kiwis By contrast

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The EU signing a preferential trade deal with New Zealand, as it did yesterday, does not immediately seem like a crowd-pleasing spectacle. Aside from its small size, New Zealand is a fairly open economy anyway, so there are no big gains for the EU. Furthermore, Brussels, not being politically desperate for a deal, granted fewer tariff cuts in agriculture than the UK did in its deal with New Zealand. However, there are a couple of interesting aspects. One is the importance of the EU's absolute economic weight for trading partners like New Zealand. The EU opened up less than the UK, but its vastly larger economy means that, for example, New Zealand's tariff savings on kiwifruit alone will be greater than all the gains from the entire deal with the UK. The UK is simply not big enough to import that much. Certainly, Brexiters' ideas that Brussels negotiators were panicking about being outmaneuvered by London are quite delusional. Brexit did not create a huge gain for New Zealand (or the UK) despite what some British Commonwealth sentimentalists would like to believe.

New Zealand has also just joined the EU's Horizon research network, which the UK has shamefully tried to haggle over the price of rejoining. Second, while the EU's trade initiatives in the Asia-Pacific are unlikely to compete Job Function Email Database with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), New Zealand's deal means it has concluded a deal in the region with a CPTPP member of the economy. advanced with some of the representatives from Brussels. favorite things about shared progressive values ​​and regulatory cooperation. The EU is having difficulties in negotiations with another CPTPP member, Malaysia, thanks to its policies on palm oil and deforestation, but it is certainly not absent from the region. Nor, evidently, is its model trade agreement completely unrelated to the US-inspired approach of the CPTPP. mapped waters The Russian ruble last week hit its lowest level since the invasion of Ukraine. That should have given some satisfaction to rich countries trying to deprive Russia of oil revenues through price caps and supplier diversification.



Just a little satisfaction, though, because while Russia's oil and gas revenues fell by a quarter from a year earlier, its imports recovered as traders found ways to evade sanctions. Capital flight and falling export earnings are weakening Russia's ability to fight the war, but it still manages to buy more abroad than its opponents would like. Commercial links Global Trade Alert's latest report on protectionism argues that attempts to restrict the supply of critical minerals do not necessarily work and that, in fact, countries have already reduced their supply of rare earths from China. The European Commission has proposed a coordinated EU withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty, whose overly broad provisions it says threaten the green transition. This has been going on for a while, not least because some hardline ECT signatories, particularly Japan, have resisted reform that could limit its reach. However, there is a 20-year sunset clause, so this is a long game.