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 …
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
Hard campaigning around CETA in EU Parliament as ratification date nears
There is clearly a sense of panic in the EU Parliament over the fate of the controversial EU Canada trade agreement CETA. MEPs are expected to ratify the pact on 15 February 2017, after which the bulk of the deal would come into force ‘provisionally’. Though most observers believe there is and …
EU in drive to patch up relations with Morocco in wake of Western Sahara trade row
Although last December the Court of Justice of the EU overturned an earlier ruling that invalidated the suspension of a 2012 bilateral agreement between the EU and Morocco on trade in agriculture and fisheries, the damage the case brought to relations between Brussels and Rabat is not quite yet repaired …
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 …
Responding to Trump: Top EU think tank suggests EU adopt own border adjustment tax
The EU should respond in kind to US plans to introduce discriminatory tax on corporations, argues a scholar at the highly respected economics think tank Bruegel in Brussels. The US government is introducing widely discussed tax reforms that would involve a discriminatory border tax adjustment, or ‘destination tax’. US tax …
Commission: Member states need to meet two Turkish demands to secure customs union deal
On Friday (03 February 2017) member states discussed EU plans to modernise its economic relationships with Turkey. In December, the Commission requested a negotiating mandate from the member states to modernise the more than 20-year-old customs union that binds the two neighbours. The move, though less controversial in principle than EU accession …
EU and Mexico accelerate pace of free trade talks
It’s Trump time. The EU and Mexico have agreed to accelerate the pace of their ongoing negotiations to liberalise trade. “Together, we are witnessing the worrying rise of protectionism around the world. Side by side, as like-minded partners, we must now stand up for the idea of global, open …
Rising calls in EU for new trade initiatives in face of Trump trade moves
Tensions between the US administration and EU leaders are on the rise, as the US appears to attack in particular Germany on the trade front. Governments in the capitals and EU leaders have started responding. President Trump’s chief trade adviser Peter Navarro accused Germany of currency exploitation, the Financial …
Panel finds Russian antidumping duties on EU vans WTO incompatible
The dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organization has found Russia’s antidumping duties imposed on light commercial vehicles from Germany and Italy to violate the Antidumping Agreement of the WTO and Article VI of the GATS. In 2013, Russia imposed duties of 29.6 percent on German van imports …
