The United Arab Emirates and the European Union launched trade negotiations last month, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs — timing experts say reveals profound shifts in global trade alignments.
The negotiations, announced in early April following a conversation between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, mark the first time the UAE has pursued a bilateral trade agreement with the EU outside of the GCC framework — a structure that has governed EU-Gulf economic relations since the 1980s.
“The EU-UAE trade talks were announced on April 10, which is almost to the day, a week after Trump announced his famous Liberation Day tariffs,” Nicolas Michelon, Managing Partner at Dubai-based corporate geoeconomics consultancy Alagan Partners, told Arabian Business in an interview as anticipation builds for potential progress in the negotiations.
