Unrivalled coverage of European trade policy
Monday, April 23, 2018
The EU is struggling to find a consistent, coherent and efficient strategy approach to the US administration’s choking off of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body and to its unilateral tariffs on steel and aluminium. There is a lot of back-and-forth in the background – both in Brussels and …
China must give exporters more time to adjust to 11 new environmental protection control standards for imported solid waste as raw materials, the EU says. Governments got just 30 days to comment on the proposed changes, which were to enter into force on 1 March, and exporters had only 14 …
The EU is engaged in a highly contortionist political exercise ahead of an expected final decision by the US administration on whether to make temporary exemptions on import duties on steel and aluminium permanent. Among the exertions is a notification to the WTO today.
There’s an eerie silence in the EU institutions around the current ‘negotiations’ with the Donald Trump administration over the issue of exempting the EU permanently from planned tariffs on aluminium and steel under Section 232. Even the European Parliament hasn’t been updated with the latest developments. The silence stands …
China is the first country to lodge a legal challenge to US tariffs on steel and aluminium that officials from other World Trade Organization members, including the EU, say violate global trade laws. Beijing says the duties are discriminatory, because the US gave exemptions to some trade partners but not …
Beyond the brewing trade battle between the US and China that has encompassed many economies around the world, including the EU, (in case you missed it, see our latest story here) it was relatively quiet on the European trade front last week. But things are slowly starting to rev up …
With global fears mounting that the US-China trade dispute will escalate into a full-blown trade war, a softer tone from senior officials in both countries this week suggesting that the standoff could be resolved through negotiations came as welcome news around the world. Both sides seemed ready to take a …
The EU and Japan are joining the United States in a World Trade Organization dispute against China’s intellectual property practices. On Wednesday, the EU and Japan filed a request to join consultations – a preliminary phase in a legal dispute – initiated by Washington. Despite facing, as political allies, …
Reports that the European Union is “closely examining” possible World Trade Organization complaints against China for its policies and practices on intellectual property come as little surprise, as the EU just last week told a WTO committee that it was concerned about Beijing’s technology licensing requirements. US President Donald …
On Monday, seven World Trade Organization members raised concerns about the EU’s new Renewable Energy Directive during a goods committee meeting. In January, the European Parliament voted to ban palm oil from the bloc’s targets for consumption of renewable energy for transport by 2021, in a shift away from earlier …
