Trade | Europinion

Rewriting The Rulebook: How Brussels and Berlin Govern Past Their Own Limits

On 23 July 2026, the EU adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia as part of its efforts in the war it is waging against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Measures in the package include a price cap on Russian oil of $44 per barrel, permission for member states to sell confiscated oil, and a visa ban for Russian combatants. This brings the cumulative total of sanctioned individuals and entities to a record 3,100. The EU, however, finds itself in a quagmire, with me

Ethan Harvey

Aug 97 min read

Panama – Confusing and Confused

My first impression of Panama City’s Casco Viejo was one of distortion. It was only possible to catch fragmented glimpses of its whitewashed walls through reflections cast out by skyscrapers lining the waterfront. Panama City’s old town seemed awkward and incongruous, positioned in the shadow of five-hundred-foot-tall buildings. Its pristine streets lay relatively abandoned, disconnected from the chaotic metropolis barely one kilometre away. This sense of dislocation and frag

Lucy Tappin

Jul 244 min read

‘He Who Controls the Resources Controls the World’ – How the Embargo Became the Blueprint for Quiet Violence

Ninety miles separates Key West from Havana; across this strait, these two nations could not be more different. On one side, a superpower that throws away 40% of its food. On the other, a country that has spent thirty years perfecting how to grow food on scraps. Not the Cuba of cable news blackouts and empty shelves, but rather the Cuba that has been here before and knows exactly what to do about it. Three decades on, this same reflex is being asked to ignite again, for a dif

Abigail Marchetti

Jul 218 min read

Paris Finds a New Backyard in Nairobi

France held its first Africa-France summit in an anglophone African capital on 11 and 12 May, gathering more than thirty heads of state at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi. Emmanuel Macron and William Ruto co-chaired the Africa Forward Summit, which closed with the eleven-point Nairobi Declaration and €23 billion in pledged investment across energy, agriculture, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure. Paris presented the venue and the figure

Kris Van der Bijl

Jun 93 min read

Europe's EV Tariffs Protect the Past, Not the Planet

Europe is sabotaging its own climate goals by prioritising the protection of its car industry over allowing affordable Chinese electric vehicles in. This turns the green transition into a trade dispute with China, whilst risking the green transformation both sides urgently need. Europe doesn’t need a trade war, it needs a strategy. Instead of raising tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles , the EU should establish a Green Trade Truce based on transparency, cooperation and fair

Bennet Oetken

Nov 8, 20253 min read

Alliance in Flux: The Complex Reality of Sino-Russian Partnership

As China's grandest military parade approaches, Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his attendance at this commemoration of...

Ming Wa (Chris) Guan

Sep 1, 20253 min read

Anti-Americanism as Identity: A Canadian Tradition

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion Nationalist sentiment in Canada has surged in the wake of U.S. President Trump’s imposition of...

Brock Salvatore Cullen-Irace

May 24, 20254 min read

The 'Minerals Deal' Is Forcing Washington and Moscow to Rethink the Ukraine War

On the 8th of May 2025, Ukraine’s parliament ratified the long-awaited ‘minerals deal’ , signed with the US at the end of April this year...

George Wallace

May 12, 20254 min read

In Defence Of Tax Cuts Just For Indians

Keir Starmer has secured a historic free trade deal with India which eliminates tariffs on 85% of British exports within the decade which would have otherwise faced an average levy of 130% . Yet despite this massive win, Conservative and Reform politicians are instead focusing on Indian visa workers not having to pay national insurance for three years. This tax cut for Indians should be welcomed, however, both as a small price to pay for the £4.8bn gains to Britons, and, as

Charles Amos

May 8, 20253 min read