Saturday, September 19, 2026
The US is making progress in negotiations with Mexico to revise the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), while discussions with Canada have yet to produce the concessions sought by the Trump administration, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. Speaking at the Aspen Institute Security Forum in Colorado, Greer said discussions with Mexican...
The European Commission faces a pushback from ten member states over its strategy to impose a carbon price on heating and transport fuels. On 15 July 2026, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia signed a joint statement urging the EU to reconsider this new scheme, known as ETS2,...
The OECD has announced that Uzbekistan signed the OECD-Council of Europe Convention on the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Convention) as amended by the 2010 Protocol, on 15 July 2026. The Convention will enable Uzbekistan to exchange information with 152 jurisdictions, including all major financial centres, which form a network...
The OECD has published a new analysis examining the economic impacts of the Pillar Two Global Minimum Tax, with the findings presented during a webinar held on 15 July 2026. Alongside the analysis, the OECD also released a working paper titled MNE Responses to the Global Minimum Tax, which provides an early empirical, ex post...
Kenya’s government confirmed, on 14 July 2026, that it is keeping its reduced 8% value-added tax rate on petroleum products through mid-October, alongside a KES 945 million subsidy to stabilise pump prices in the July-August cycle. The government first compressed VAT on fuel from 16% to 8% in April 2026, reacting to crude price shocks...
Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service (RFB) opened its doors for tax debtors to settle their cases on better terms. On 13 July 2026, the agency published two notices (Notice 9 and Notice 10) offering structured payment plans with steep discounts — but the window to apply closes on 30 October 2026. Notice 9: Larger disputes, bigger...
United States Trade Representative (USTR) representative Jamieson Greer is taking final action, at President Trump’s direction, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 by imposing a 25% tariff on certain goods of Brazil, according to a release on 15 July 2026. This follows a yearlong investigation by USTR that determined that certain Brazilian...
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republic of Srpska has adopted a regulation introducing pension and family support measures, public investment and borrowing initiatives, new energy concessions and electricity licences, extensive appointments across public institutions, and updated ministerial rules covering agriculture, tourism and public administration. The measures, which also include the acceptance of donor funding from Serbia and...
Switzerland and the United Kingdom have concluded negotiations on a modernised free trade agreement, Swiss President Guy Parmelin and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle announced during a meeting in Bern on 13 July. The negotiations, which began in 2023, were launched to modernise bilateral free trade relations. They build on...
Germany has notified Russia that it will suspend the agreement of 29 May 1996 between the two nations for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, effective from 1 January 2027. The notification was delivered on 30 June 2026 and also applies to the protocol of the same...