"Drill, baby, drill"

We'll keep exposing any system in which the rich and powerful can use the courts to silence journalists, experts, campaigners, even victims of sexual violence. Read the full piece - and if you value this work, please consider becoming a paying member: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/we-investi...

EU nascent plans to put up barriers against Chinese products may underwhelm proponents yet still create a lot of #tradefriction with those that are not from #China. Editor's Take by @ianadreyer.bsky.social 

Stellar programme at our coming Borderlex Academy in London on 16 & 17 June! #LearningAboutTrade Check out the programme and let us know if you'd like to join! Here:

yet another tech bro determined to destroy public media. but this one was invited in through the front door by the board and ok'ed by a Labour government. sometimes I truly despair for the UK. how deep will it go in its US tech obeisance? English ruling class seems to truly hate its own country.

This is a book I have been waiting for for years - starting it this week-end. By a brilliant unconventional British mind & writer Rana Dasgupta (whose 2014 portrait of New Delhi blew me off) Love the titles of the three main parts 😅 Hope some French publishing house will one day translate this

Will have to listen in detail - but Boy is This Ironic !

💥OOFT and a swift response from Beijing! "China has decided to add Herstal and six other EU entities to the export control list, prohibiting exporters from exporting dual-use items to these entities" Cites their dealings with Taiwan - does not name all the firms

🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈⚖️🇭🇺 A legal earthquake - CJEU finds Hungary to have violated EU law on multiple counts with its anti-LGBT+ legislation (as expected) but also for the first time in history, in an EU law-reshaping precedent, finds Hungary to violate Art 2 TEU in a self-standing manner.

Indeed better Cassandra than deluded, @alemanno.bsky.social ! This is not the end of Orbanism - withwhat the US stirring up thing on top of everything else Still: it’s good news that offers hope.

Ever wondered what's hidden away in the services trade section of the new EU Australia FTA? Well, some salience given to FinTech - new territory for Brussels FTAs. #tradeinservices By @ianadreyer.bsky.social 

We’re then accepting an asymmetric and WTO-illegal trade deal with the United States in the name of “Ukraine” (aka continued NATO involvement).

Bien. L’eurodéputé RN Fabrice Leggeri visé par une enquête pour complicité de crimes contre l’humanité www.liberation.fr/societe/poli...

So Italians reject Meloni’s messing around with the justice system. A piece of good news for once.

Je me souviendrai toujours de ce moment fatidique…

"Through such calls, "every single E.U. meeting for years has basically had Moscow behind the table," the official said" #EuropeanUnion https://i.redd.it/d9igauacmgqg1.png

Seen in Florence, Italy, today. #ambience #EuropeAndAmericaTheseDays

I mean, ok but total disconnect! What about Commission president NOT starting a speech on the war in the Middle East with the question whether brown people will arrive on our shores? What about not having far right mainstreaming? Then we can talk. www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

Amazing article with no opinion poll or any other data. So what does one make of it?

First thing she says is “Achtung, Brown People!” then - phew, gladly they don’t seem to be coming.

EU rituals.

Okayyyyy… Denmark was ready to blow up Greenland runways if US invaded giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Just discovered this book by browsing through the rich @eui-eu.bsky.social library. When one sees what’s been going on in the US recently and the potentially horrid stuff we may be slouching towards in parts of Europe (France next?) then it’s good to have this in mind. Top of my to-read list

I mean…. I love my trade policy wonks. But please….

A sudden decline in low-skilled immigrant workers in 2020 increased the exit of manufacturing firms in Korea and decreased wages of Korean workers, from Jongkwan Lee, Giovanni Peri, and Hee-Seung Yang www.nber.org/papers/w34927

To vote or not to vote on the EU side of the « Turnberry » deal with the US - that is the question the European Parliament is grappling with. #EUUS Exclusive by @robfranciseu.bsky.social#EUUS

😅

Spare yourself 1500 pages to read or AI errors to weed out 🤓 What’s the tariff deal btw EU & Indonesia by @ianadreyer.bsky.social #EUIndonesia 🇮🇩🇪🇺

EU Indonesia trade agreement CEPA. The full tariff agreement is now available. Subscribers to Borderlex can find out what's in the ca 1500 pages of tariffs schedules by @ianadreyer.bsky.social  #EUIndonesia 🇮🇩 🇪🇺 

I would go along with that (not stop at it) www.politico.eu/article/time...

Provocative take by our editor @ianadreyer.bsky.social “The most realistic course for BXL in interest of long-term stability (…) w/US (…): do exactly nothing after the Supreme Court ruling on IEEPA tariffs”

Those headlines…. Inimaginable news until recently.

If CJEU were to follow this opinion, it would be a massive blow to the Commission's credibility on the rule of law front, and very bad news for Poland, as the Commission has been similarly "flexible" with signing off on rule of law milestones and then unlocking the entirety of PL funds in 2024. 2/

Trade Secrets today. Building a critical minerals network ex-China: good idea. But if you think the Trump admin will public-spiritedly run a rules-based international rare earths coalition, I’ve got prospecting rights for deposits of Imaginium in the mineral-rich territory of Delusionia to sell you.

A rare Uruguayan perspective on the EU Mercosur agreement with ex trade minister Nicolás Albertoni - interview with our managing editor @robfranciseu.bsky.social #EUMercosur

INTERVIEW Uruguay’s Albertoni on #EUMercosur “This is a historic agreement” borderlex.net/2026/02/10/i...

Today’s headlines… 😑

Today's news - EU Brazil data adequacy decision complements EU Mercosur trade agreement, writes  @ianadreyer.bsky.social 

When the terms « Squadrista » and « SS » need explaining in a FT article in 2026.

NATO dude here painstakingly demonstrating how right Macron was when he talked about "brainless NATO." www.ft.com/content/e2f6...

The big danger for Europe now is complacency - that having apparently seen Trump off for now, that political leaders retreat back to their comfort zone."

Confession: utterly bored by such a piece by a person in the position of the author. 1/ Why? Because it is in denial about what the Trump administration is creating, at home and abroad Trade patterns and policies need change as geopolitics shift. So what? www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

I wrote about Minnesotans putting their lives on the line to fight for their city, protect their neighbors, and defend the Republic against tyranny. Some thoughts from my new piece - angry and alarmed, but also hopeful and inspired: 🧵

German state failure - rather grandiose here. Scary Europeans are ruled like that - and not only in Germany.

In this 161st long-read on my blog, I seriously consider the hypothesis of the US becoming a hostile power. I show how everything contributes to this, establishing a link between the domestic scene & the international arena. The time to de-risk has come. tenzerstrategics.substack.com/p/when-the-u...

US trade policy: @nytimes.com 🇺🇸

It's been a day of 💥 trade policy news: 2/ EU too (!) calls into question the most-favoured nation principle @wto in new paper submitted in Geneva #multilateralism @chrishorseman.bsky.social 

We need more Carneys in Europe.

Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.