While the EU awaits the verdict of the WTO arbitrator sometime this month that will set the levels of duties the United States may levy on imports from Europe, its trade policy machinery continues churning on.
Ukraine, Russia & CIS
EU requests arbitration panel under EU Ukraine Association Agreement
The EU is escalating its dispute with Ukraine over the country’s continued ban on exports of timber, and requested a panel this week after initial consultations collapsed. This is the first bilateral arbitration panel to be established under an EU trade agreement.
Week Ahead in EU Trade: EU elections, EU-US, OECD ministerial, Ukraine
This week will mainly be about the European Union digesting Donald Trump’s decision to postpone slapping tariffs on imported autos for six months to seek a deal with Brussels and Tokyo on restricting imports. EU-US and OECD trade ministerial Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström reacted quickly on Friday (17 May) on …
Week in Brussels: Cambodia, Eastern Partnership, FTA calendar updates
This week, World Trade Organization ambassadors met in rue de Lausanne in Geneva for the General Council meeting. It was mainly a meeting to – literally –‘ confront’ views on the state of the organisation and on how to reform it. We partly covered the Appellate Body discussion.
Steel: EU to stop duplication of safeguard and anti-dumping duties, faces new Russian WTO complaint
The European Union’s safeguard on imports of steel enacted earlier this year has made many EU trading partners and large chunks of Europe’s manufacturing industry unhappy. The import restrictions were enacted to avoid the steel industry taking an unnecessary hit from the global trade frictions triggered after the United States …
Week in Brussels: Russian WTO steel case against EU, procurement reciprocity, Korean labour
China and EU-US trade relations dominated the news this week. Here’s a selection of what else happened. EU to face new Russian WTO complaint over steel anti-dumping duties This week in Geneva, Russia requested a panel in a dispute filed in February 2017 against the EU’s anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled …
EU and Georgia to seek new ways to boost trade
Georgia, a small country in the Caucasus with a ‘frozen conflict’ on its territory ever since the 2008 war with Russia, has been eager to grow closer to the European Union. Despite pressing state-building priorities and a worrisome internal security situation, Tbilisi has proven diligent in implementing its 2014 ‘deep …
WTO: Some EU energy laws discriminate against Russia, but ‘unbundling’ is legal
Russia has lost its central argument in a four-year-old World Trade Organization complaint challenging the EU’s energy market laws: the right of the bloc to prevent a single company from owning both natural gas pipelines and distribution networks. The WTO ruled today that certain energy-supply measures imposed by the EU …
EU tears down trade barriers as Russia and China erect them
European companies exported an additional €4.8 billion in goods and services last year thanks to the removal of a record number of trade barriers, the European Commission says. But EU exporters noted a dramatic increase in protectionism in 2017, as trade partners including China, Russia and South Africa created more …
Week ahead in EU trade: Council, TPC, Brexit, EU Parliament, Hong Kong
Expect plenty of post-Group of Seven summit articles in the aftermath of the two-day meeting that ended in the escalation of a clash over trade and US President Donald Trump’s refusal to endorse a communique. Closer to home, the focus will be on meetings of the Council, the Trade Policy …
