EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Japan’s foreign minister Fumio Kishida held a meeting in Bonn, Germany, today, taking stock of ongoing free trade agreement talks as these appear to have stumbled. As previously reported by us, the more than three-year old trade negotiations with Japan have stuttered in …
Asia
MEPs approve partnership pact with Mongolia
It took almost four years for the deal that replaces a 1993 cooperation agreement between the EU and Mongolia to be greenlighted by the European Parliament. On Wednesday (15 February 2017) MEPs approved a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement – PCA – with the Asian country squeezed in between Russia and China …
In brief: Indonesia files appeal against WTO ‘fatty alcohol’ ruling
Jakarta is not happy with a WTO dispute settlement body ruling that largely rebuffed a case it brought against the EU for applying antidumping duties on its exports of ‘fatty alcohols’. Today, it officially lodged an appeal in the WTO. In a panel report issued on 16 December 2016 the dispute settlement …
In brief: French officials see EU Japan trade pact conclusion not before end 2017
After a substantial acceleration of free trade negotiations between the EU and Japan, raising hopes a pact could be concluded in the early months of 2017, momentum has petered out. With a bilateral United States – Japan trade agreement to potentially replace the Transpacific Partnership which Japan signed with …
In brief: Commission softens trade defence measures on Chinese solar panels
The Commission is proposing to reduce the time it wishes to extend exiting antidumping duties and anti-subsidy price measures targeting Chines solar panels from two years to 18 months. The measures were introduced in 2013, formally expired late 2015, and then were extended for a year during an expiry …
Indonesia FTA papers: Intellectual property and raw materials among top EU priorities
The EU Commission has released nine revealing negotiating texts it tabled to Indonesian trade authorities during the second round of free trade talks held in Jakarta in late January. The report on the round published by the Commission hailed the talks as “constructive” and explained that the EU set …
Cecilia Malmström chides China for its protectionism
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström has not minced her words in a speech in Brussels on Monday (6 February 2017) at a business meeting ahead of the impending publication by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China’s of its annual report on trade barriers in the Asian country. The speech comes …
Extension of China solar duties faces setback in antidumping committee
The Commission faced a setback today when it tabled a proposal to extend for another two years antiduming duties and a price undertaking on solar panels from China. The measures, introduced in 2013, divided member states and the solar industry, and increased political tensions with Beijing. After an expiry review …
EU to extend trade defence measures against Chinese solar cells for two years
The EU is expected to renew antidumping measures and a ‘price undertaking’ in place since 2013 on solar panel cells from China on Thursday (26 January 2017). The move comes after a one-year expiry review of measures that had provoked significant frictions with China and divided the renewables industry in …
Trade defence : Textile group flags uncertainty created by planned new rules – in brief
As the EU prepares to wrap up its trade defence reforms in the aftermath of China’s expected treatment as a market economy in antidumping cases, Euratex, the main European textile industry association has flagged a few risks taken by the Commission in its TDI overhaul. Euratex is generally sceptical …
