To help Jordan cope with a massive influx of refugees from Syria by integrating them in the local labour market and hiring them in dedicated special industrial zones, the EU will ease the conditions under which Jordan may export goods duty-free to the EU. The move was made official during …
EU FTAs & bilateral ties
China MES: EU trade defence law to move “closer to American model”
Instead of risking not being in compliance with WTO rules by refusing to grant China market economy treatment in EU antidumping law, the Commission is seeking to overhaul its trade defence policy more broadly, and move it “closer to the American model of trade defence”, Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen …
In brief: EU launches new case against China raw material export restrictions
Brussels is following Washington on this one. Today, the EU notified the WTO Secretariat of a request for consultations with China over duties and other measures concerning the exportation of certain raw materials. This request follows on a similar one filed by Washington last week (13 July 2016). The move follows …
TiSA,TTIP: EU and US battle over “new services”
USTR is stepping up its offensive moves to get the interests of its competitive digital industry heard in international trade talks. The EU has already been feeling the heat in TiSA and TTIP as transatlantic negotiations move from Geneva to Brussels this week. New services are among the key issues …
Council endorses new EU China strategy – silent on market economy status
The EU’s foreign affairs council – FAC – meeting today has endorsed a new China strategy devised jointly by the European External Action Service and the Commission. Among others, the strategy endorses the idea of a future free trade agreement with China – provided current investment agreement negotiations are …
Parliament report: EU trade deals increase money laundering risk
A new research report commissioned by the European Parliament argues that free trade agreements increase the risk of money laundering. The report, Commissioned after the Panama Papers affair this spring, says that EU free trade agreements with emerging markets such as South Africa, Chile, Mexico, Central America, or South Korea …
CETA: Business group calls for provisional application
EU member states are considering whether to allow the Canada trade agreement CETA to come into force provisionally after the Council and the Parliament have ratified it. Not doing so would be a significant break with previous practice, which has so far involved provisional application those parts of ‘mixed’ trade …
EU Indonesia free trade negotiations okayed
The EU and Indonesia will launch free trade negotiations in the autumn 2016. Initial plans to do so were launched in 2013, but the ‘scoping exercise’ necessary before the EU member states greenlight new talks had lasted particularly long. With France dropping its plans to tax palm oil – a …
TTIP after Round 14: not quite endgame yet
The EU and the US have finalised their fourteenth round of negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership this week in Brussels with a sense of genuine progress. While the outline of the deal starts becoming visible, reaching ‘endgame’ to conclude the deal in 2016 remains a technical …
CETA – Now official : investment outside provisional application
The Slovak government has made clear that investment provisions of CETA will not be applied before all 28 member states ratify the deal. The Canadian trade deal concluded by the EU continues to be a hot potato in EU trade politics. It is the Slovak government, at the helm of the …
