Chris Horseman

UK sets sights on closer EU ties amid geopolitical pressures - Borderlex - European trade policy The United Kingdom entered 2026 with its strongest push yet to rebuild relations with the European Union since the 2016 Brexit referendum, driven by disappointing economic performance and mounting geopolitical threats.

🇬🇧 trade policy may be more interesting than many think in 2026

- EU reset to move up a gear
- Steel policy review
- Free trade agreements

Comprehensive preview by @chrishorseman.bsky.social 

Commission expands carbon border measure, proposes fund for EU producers - Borderlex - European trade policy The European Commission proposed expanding the scope of the bloc's carbon border adjustment mechanism to include downstream products such as machinery and appliances.

EU #CBAM - as duties kick in next month, Brussels has already started expanding the carbon border levy's product scope....

More from @robfranciseu.bsky.social 

Insight: US takes aim at MFN principle in WTO shake-up - Borderlex - European trade policy The United States has declared that the World Trade Organization's most favoured nation principle is "unsuitable for this era" and should be abandoned as part of a fundamental overhaul of how the organisation operates.

So now we really know what the US government wants out of the @WTO: end its foundational most-favoured nation principle....

@chrishorseman.bsky.social on Washington's filing to the Geneva trade body

London and Seoul modernise trade deal with auto, digital rules - Borderlex - European trade policy The UK and South Korea upgraded their free trade agreement. Novelties include rules on digital trade, financial and telecommunications services, customs facilitation, movement of company personnel, food safety, investment protection and sustainability.

What's in the upgraded UK Korea trade deal:

- digital trade rules
- new origin rules for autos 🚗 #Roo
- financial, ☎️ telco rules
- customs rules
- movement of ppl
- food safety
- investment protection
- Paris Agreement on climate 🌳

By @chrishorseman.bsky.social 

New podcast! Is a level playing field a luxury that we can no longer afford in these days of geopolitical contention? Listen to the discussion with @weforum.org @pholmes8.bsky.social @uktpo.org @sussex.ac.uk @chrishorseman.bsky.social @borderlex.net soundcloud.com/uktpo-tradeb...

"Farage-curious"? Don't think you're reading the same rag as me (probs not, you cancelled your sub 7 years ago!)

The Times has a wide breadth of political stances among its columnists. Much better than the opinion monoculture that you get at the Telegraph or Guardian. But they all despise Farage.

Study commissioned by European Parliament says EU should explore "the feasibility of concluding a free trade
agreement, instead of a bilateral investment agreement, with Taiwan". If that fails, EU and Taiwan should both join CPTPP www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etud...

Making international trade work properly: conformity assessment It is important that manufacturers of industrial goods comply with international standards, and that compliance is verified. The issue of mutual recognition of conformity assessment comes into play fo

Everything you didn't know you needed to know about conformity assessment in the EU and UK!

Don't miss the latest episode of the Trade Bites podcast - out now!

soundcloud.com/uktpo-tradeb...

Evidently there's most than one way of 'fasting'..... :-)

Autumn preview: EU to focus on trade diversification - Borderlex Borderlex's curtain raiser to EU trade policy in autumn 2025

My preview for what the autumn holds in EU trade policy. Spoiler: tariffs may feature borderlex.net/2025/08/26/b...

WTO panel rules EU biodiesel duties on Indonesia unlawful - Borderlex The European Union acted unlawfully in imposing countervailing duties on imports of Indonesian biodiesel, a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel ruled today.

Another wrinkle in the EU-Indonesia trade relationship? By @chrishorseman.bsky.social borderlex.net/2025/08/22/w...

Perhaps Trump remembers that the US basically started World War Two by recklessly attacking Japan at Pearl Harbor….

Switzerland shocked by 39% US tariffs - Borderlex Switzerland faces tariffs of 39% on its exports to the US from 7 August – one of the highest rates imposed on any country.

Today is US tariff day.

It's definitely not a good day for Switzerland....

🇨🇭 🇺🇸

@chrishorseman.bsky.social on the Swiss "shock" of facing 39% duties to exports to the US

borderlex.net/2025/08/01/s...

Preliminary talks are 'coalescing' around digital trade as a possible area where the EU and the CPTPP could do a deal to show that international trade cooperation ain't dead yet...

My piece for Borderlex: 👇

US trade policy in the first 6 months of Trump's second term July 20, 2025, is six months since Trump’s inauguration for a second term in the White House. Since then, all previous norms of trade engagement have gone out of the window with the imposition (or thr

Is there method in Trump's tariff madness?

The verdict from my excellent guests on the latest @thecitp.bsky.social Trade Bites podcast? "Sort of..." :-)

Thanks to Meredith Crowley, @sjrickard.bsky.social and @chadpbown.com for their insights.

You can listen here:
soundcloud.com/uktpo-tradeb...

UK-EU agrifood (SPS) negotiations In May, Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched a reset of the EU-UK relationship which included an agreement to begin negotiations on a deal on agri-food standard

What could a new EU-UK agri-food deal really mean?
Our latest podcast unpacks the potential pitfalls for UK-EU, what it all means for Northern Ireland trade & agri-food deals with other countries 👉 on.soundcloud.com/WqBH9mpGBEYr...
@emilylydgate.bsky.social @chrishorseman.bsky.social @borderlex.net

Captain's log supplementary , stardate 09.47: It's now up! Hoorah.... :-)

DBT press release: "The Trade Strategy will be published 09.15 Thursday 26 June here..."

Thursday, 09.41, gov.uk website: "Page Not Found".

This is at least consistent with UK having joined the MPIA trade dispute arbitration system five years late. (Hope we don't have to wait that long...)

The UK is to join the MPIA - the WTO's voluntary alternative to the defunct Appellate Body.

Britain took its time - it's now five years since MPIA was launched.

Seems London is now finally convinced that the formal WTO dispute settlement reform process is a dead parrot.

It's a pain in the butt when you're supposed to be concentrating on your work, though!

One of the most interesting and topical Trade Bites discussions yet! My thanks to our excellent contributors. 👍

📢 Borderlex event || Book Talk with Ben Chu – Exile Economics – 19 June 2025, London 🇬🇧

👉 Come & chat about what shapes today’s trade policy with BBC's Ben Chu‬, author of Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails

Free but registration required ↓
borderlex.net/2025/06/02/b...

Is it also not worth supermarkets’ while to distinguish between U.K.-made stuff and EU-made? I assume not… despite the illogicality of putting ‘not for EU’ on the latter…..?

World Trading System The US has re-set its tariffs on goods imports according to a formula based on the size of that country’s trade surplus with the US – a move which has thrown all previous norms out the window. We are

Where do recent developments such as the #UStariffs leave the global trading system? Is the @wto.org and the rules-based system that it oversees, now dead? Joining our host @chrishorseman.bsky.social are Jennifer Hillman, L. Alan Winters and Farisa Zarin 👉 soundcloud.com/uktpo-tradeb...

EU-UK reset deal incoming at around lunchtime today:

12-year rollover of fish access rights
SPS deal (unclear how much detail still to be agreed)
EU and UK ETS schemes linked, with mutual CBAM exemption
Youth exchange deal
Return to pre-Brexit style electricity interchange

The world needs more of this and less of most other things

UK-India FTA This podcast looks at the recently concluded UK-India free trade agreement deal and the impact for UK exporters now that India’s high tariffs on goods like cars and Scotch whisky will be reduced, and

In case you missed it last week - the latest Trade Bites podcast offers a great opportunity to get the lowdown on the new UK-India FTA.

With rich insights from @amritasaha.bsky.social, @achyuthanil.bsky.social, Abhijit Das and Emily Weaver Roads.

soundcloud.com/uktpo-tradeb...

In the latest @thecitp.bsky.social podcast, we dive into the newly concluded #UK-#India #Trade Agreement🤝

with Abhijit Das @achyuthanil.bsky.social Emily Weaver Roads & @chrishorseman.bsky.social

Check it out
🎧 👉 lnkd.in/eJ7sHNXB

@ids.ac.uk @uktpo.org @uktradebusiness.bsky.social

So much hoping that Spain will apply reciprocal requirements for Brits living on the Costa del Sol…. 😉

The UK-India trade deal does *not* make it cheaper and easier for a number of major companies based in the UK to employ Indian workers. That is a fundamental, elementary misconception. Visa cap stays, and you have to be seconded within an Indian company. The rest is just... lies.