European antisubsidy duties on a Pakistani plastics ingredient that expired three years ago breach global trade rules, the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body said today, upholding a previous ruling. The fact that the tariffs have lapsed means no action is required by either Islamabad or Brussels. But appeals judges’ …
Asia
Week ahead in EU trade: INTA, Brexit, investment screening
Two events will happen in Brussels this week that merit close attention: the European Parliament’s international trade committee will discuss a range of headline-worthy issues during its two-day meeting and the Working Party on Trade Questions will discuss investment screening. The churn on Article 50 negotiations between the EU27 and …
Beyond Brussels: WTO tensions deepen over intellectual property, steel, Appellate Body
The World Trade Organization’s General Council meeting on Wednesday highlighted the deepening rift between the US and other members over steel, intellectual property and Appellate Body nominations. There seems to be no way out of the crisis for now.
Council restates who is boss on FTA architecture
Member states adopted ‘in principle’ their draft conclusions on what the European Commission terms the “new architecture” of trade agreements. Following the near collapse of CETA, the trade agreement with Canada, and the Court of Justice of the EU’s May 2017 ruling on a free trade accord with Singapore, the …
EP: What trade committee members want from China
A read through amendments tabled by trade committee members in preparation of a report on and trip to China highlights Europe’s divisions vis-à-vis the Asian country. One of the few areas of consensus is support for Taiwan. A delegation of European parliamentarians is in China this week to assess EU-China …
Week ahead in EU trade: INTA-China, WTO
With holidays in Europe this week on Tuesday and Thursday, it’s a given that the news flow will ease a bit. So it’s a particularly good time for a group of European Parliament trade committee members to head to China to get a better handle on the state of EU-China …
Beyond Brussels: Oversupply of Chinese goods doesn’t hurt global trade, study finds
China may use subsidies to prop up a range of domestic industries, but oversupply in these sectors has little impact on global trade, a Swiss-based trade watchdog says in a new report on the current steel glut and protectionism.
Comment: EU trade agreement agriculture quotas are of little use
Import quotas on sensitive agricultural products opened in the EU’s latest FTAs appear to be of little use to both exporters and importers. The last round of EU-Mercosur trade negotiations held last week ended in acrimony. Both EU agriculture market access – aka quotas on beef, sugar and ethanol …
A week in Brussels: China, sanctionable TSD chapters, think tanks
Two big countries dominated the agenda on trade in Brussels this week: the United States and China. Both topics are not unrelated. In this regard, a lot happened in the WTO – see Jennifer’s stories here, here and here. Another topic that has kept EU leaders busy is the bloc’s …
New EU dumping methodology is illegal, Chinese, Russians and Saudis say
The EU can expect legal challenges against its new law to protect the bloc against dumped and subsidized imports. That message came out loud and clear during a meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices. The European regulation, which entered into force on 20 December, establishes …