TradeLane

Following a decisive win by the conservative party in a recent UK General Election, on December 20th, 2019 the UK House of Commons approved the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) governing the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU). In parallel, the bill was approved by European Parliament on January 29th, 2020.

The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement went into effect on November 21^st, 2019. This is the European Union's first bilateral trade agreement with a Southeast Asian country. This agreement removes tariffs in trade between the EU and Singapore.

On December 6^th, 2019 the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed the imposition of up to 100 percent ad valorem additional duties on a preliminary list of products from France. These include cheese, cosmetics, handbags, sparkling wines, porcelain, and enamelled households articles, the list can be found here.

Parliament in the United Kingdom is currently debating approval of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) that outlines a potential future relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union after Brexit.

The UK has requested that the European Union extend the Brexit deadline to January 31, 2020, in order to properly scrutinize this bill. Additionally, the Prime Minister has called for a general election to occur in December, if an extension is granted. 

Following a 15 years dispute between the United States and the European Union regarding aviation industry-related subsidies, the World Trade Organization recently issued a report that justifies up to USD $7.5 billion annually in countermeasures made by the US against EU countries as a result.