Turkey has decided to litigate. Earlier this year, Ankara requested consultations with the European Union as Brussels revised for the second time a contentious safeguard on steel imports introduced initially in 2018. The measures were taken in response to the United States’ decision back then to restrict imports of steel …
Miscellaneous EU trade files
Second revision of EU steel safeguard leaves much unclear on modalities
“We will continue to use our trade defence instruments in a robust fashion to ensure that our economic recovery takes place in a level playing field,” said Sabine Weyand in a recent meeting with MEPs last week. Discussing the revised EU steel safeguard, which is coming into force tomorrow, Weyand …
Week in Brussels: digital tax wars, new strategy, SME exports, anti-subsidy
It’s been quite a week in terms of trade news, with the launch of an EU healthcare initiative with the WTO’s Ottawa Group meeting and new plans to control foreign subsidies of companies operating in Europe. Below some other notable news. UK talks: European Parliament talks tough on LPF and …
EU healthcare aims for WTO elicit no enthusiasm at Ottawa Group
The European Union tabled a “concept paper” on health to a group of like-minded World Trade Organization members called the Ottawa Group. The EU aims to avoid medical supply shortages as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in similar situations in future. But it didn’t get the traction it had hoped …
Intra-European goods trade hit most by COVID-19 crisis
Eurostat released first estimates of European Union trade in goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The figures are staggering as expected, with extra EU-27 exports falling by 28.2% and exports by 22.7% in April 2020 alone compared to the same month last year. If one compares the trade performance cumulated over …
WTO, US, health and trade at ministers’ table in Brussels
European Union trade ministers approached the issue of who they will support as the next World Trade Organization’s director-general with great prudence. The second ‘FAC Trade’ of the year held online today was an opportunity for EU capitals and the Commission to touch base on the bundle of recent WTO issues …
Week in Brussels: China, Dutch Mercosur vote, Australia, Myanmar, Bangladesh
This week has been dominated by news and gossip surrounding the nomintion of a successor for the WTO’s outgoing director general. Today, Nigeria announced it was planning to nominate former finance minister and World Bank official Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – a high profile nomination to say the least. The nomination period …
EU steel safeguard: Quota volumes reduced, new countries targeted
The European Union is revising for the second time a steel safeguard it applies to 26 product categories since February 2019. Differentiated approach to quota volumes In an approach that raises interesting World Trade Organization compatibility questions, the EU is not announcing an expansion. In fact the EU is reducing …
INTA committee: pharma IP, enforcement regulation, steel, chief enforcement officer
Today the international trade committee met for a somewhat longer session than the one held at the end of April at the height of Europe’s lockdown. Here some highlights of what’s been said. Pharma intellectual property The pharmaceutical intellectual property space is one to watch very closely post COVID-19. It …
Pharma, raw materials, taxes, strategic autonomy – the trade dimension of the Commission’s recovery plans
The European Commission’s post-COVID-19 ‘recovery plan’ released today amidst strong media attention focuses mainly on financial and budget issues. But the governance of trade and global value chains is also a significant dimension of how Brussels sees a way out of the pandemic-induced slump. The European Commission adjusted its 2020 …
