You said you had the Muskowian / Novgorodian Trade war. Trade war is a CB you normally get from either leaving a trade league or being embargoed. Novagrod isn't embargoing you when you're at peace are they? Although even then the embargo not should be lifted until you win, not while you're at war.
But in general, it's quite hard to keep merchants in league CoTs if you;re not a league member because all the league nations use their leader's compete chance and do not compete with each other, so they tend to keep kicking out outsiders.
But in general, it's quite hard to keep merchants in league CoTs if you;re not a league member because all the league nations use their leader's compete chance and do not compete with each other, so they tend to keep kicking out outsiders.