ISDS Case Map
geopolitics
In mid-November, Wikileaks released the secret draft text for the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter of the TPP. Stuart Trew talks about what this leak tells us about the agreement as a whole.
After 26 years of frustration over its start-and-stop bid to join the European Union, would Turkey ever consider joining a rival regional bloc led by the Kremlin? Few observers believe it likely, but it’s not completely out of the question.
In a bid to force Ukraine to abandon the signing of a free trade agreement with the EU, Russian veterinary service Rosselkhoznadzor has banned meat imports from two Ukrainian companies in the first step of a possible meat war that could seriously damage the Ukrainian industry.
The TPP has been mostly framed as a secret free-trade agreement but it has in large part taken the form of a policy initiative called the Pacific Pivot, a shifting of military resources into the Pacific.
The European Commission has warned Russia that it is "unacceptable" to use threats against ex-Soviet states which are seeking closer ties with the EU.
"If Ukraine believes it needs to sign a treaty on free trade with the EU, it means that's how it should be. However, we see some problems for us and them here," Putin said in an interview with Russia's Channel One and the Associated Press.
The EU, Israel’s biggest trading partner, is preparing EU-wide guidelines for the labelling of goods made at settlements as originating from Israeli-occupied Palestinian land. The measure would affect $300m of Israeli exports, according to a World Bank estimate.
Two projects of regional association are facing off in South America: the Pacific Alliance and UNASUR.
India overcame resistance from China to become a part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, an Asean + 6 grouping which is set to emerge as one of the most significant free trading blocs in the world, government sources confirmed.
Unless there is enough political will to close potential loopholes disguised as “flexibility” and pursue reforms deeper than those ever before attempted, RCEP may be seen as serving the geopolitical interests of a few players, to little economic effect.
