Phil Hogan is the Irish Commissioner-designate for Trade. Hogan was the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Juncker Commission (2014-2019) after leading the Irish Ministry for Environment, Community and Local Government between 2011 and 2014. European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has given him the mandate to maintain the EU’s leadership in world trade and to contribute to updating and upgrading the rules-based multilateral system. In this regard, some important files that await Hogan will be the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its negotiations on e-commerce, Europe’s ability to protect itself from unfair trade practices and the upgrade of EU’s Enforcement Regulation. He will also have to deal with complicated trade relations with the United States and China, prioritize Africa and close ongoing trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. He will be pressed to feature increasingly the sustainable development and climate dimensions in EU’s trade policies. Regarding the MENA region in particular, Hogan will need to find ways to unblock negotiations on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with Morocco and Tunisia and to boost inter and intra-regional trade. At the upcoming hearing, MEPs from the Green party are likely to criticize his record as a Commissioner for Agriculture and his alleged links with agriculture lobbies.