G20 members agreed to a common agenda on digital trade at a meeting in Düsseldorf on Friday (7 April 2017). European business wants more ambition from the G20 ahead of the next WTO ministerial meeting. The main achievements of the German-hosted ministerial meeting that gathered countries as wide apart in development …
EU trade policies
In brief: EU and Australia edge closer to FTA talks
The EU and Australia have finalised a ‘scoping exercise’ and are now ready to launch preparations towards initiating free trade talks. The European Commission will now request a formal mandate from the EU’s member states to start free trade negotiations with the Oceanian country. The EU aims to conclude FTAs …
EU gears up China trade defence fight with increased duties on iron, steel
On Thursday (6 April 2017), the EU slapped definitive antidumping duties ‘hot-rolled’ iron products and on steel imported from China. The move comes only a few days after the WTO established a dispute settlement panel following a Chinese complaint in which Beijing accuses the EU of illegally continuing to apply its …
Philippines FTA: EU lets go on talks
The EU Commission is putting free trade talks with the Philippines on halt. In practice, this means it is not setting a new date for a new round of free trade negotiations given concerns over the country’s human rights record. FTA talks with the Philippines were launched in 2016 and are part …
In depth: Where we are in the intra-EU BIT saga
The silent turf war between the EU Commission and intra-EU investor-state arbitral tribunals and member states that back the bilateral investment treates – BITs – that underpin them is continuing. But resolution of the conflict will likely need to wait until 2018. A Borderlex long-read.
‘Unsustainable’ palm oil: MEPs call for regulation, product discrimination
The European Parliament adopted by an overwhelming majority a legally non binding report that calls on the EU to introduce regulation to curtail imports of palm oil whose production does not meet international environmental and social sustainability criteria. Drafted by Czech MEP Katerina Konecna (GUE/NL) from the environment committee, …
EU ‘trade barriers’: USTR report features beef, GIs, and pesticide regulations
The freshly released 2017 edition of the United States Trade Representative’s annual National Trade Estimate report comes at an interesting time, as it indicates where the Donald Trump administration’s trade priorities with its partners are most likely to lie in the months and years ahead. The EU chapter dwells …
Indonesia revives EU biodiesel antidumping disputes with new WTO complaint
If you believed the fate of the EU’s biodiesel antidumping duties was sealed after the WTO appellate body’s ruling on a case brought by Argentina and a European Court of Justice ruling annulling these measures in the autumn 2016, stand corrected. The saga goes on. This week, Indonesia filed a complaint in …
WTO panel backs China in chicken quota dispute with the EU
The WTO’s dispute settlement panel has broadly endorsed a claim brought against the EU by China regarding a tariff rate quota extension for chicken. In 2012, the EU extended its WTO quotas to Thailand and Brazil, two major exporters of poultry. China, whose exports to the EU had increased significantly …
EU farm groups call for more controls on Brazilian beef
Update Friday 24 March 2017: the EU has asked Brazil to suspend its beef shipments voluntarily, to avoid having to impose a bigger import ban. Brazil has refused. EU meat producers are calling for more controls on imports of Brazilian beef amidst a local meat scandal, and for caution …
