Member states have been working hard to reach a compromise package on overhauling EU trade defence law ahead of the long-awaited 11 December deadline enshrined in China’s WTO accession protocol obliging its partners to let go of the analogue country methodology applied to (former) planned economies, or ‘non market economies’. …
Defensive trade policy
EU WTO win in Boeing case triggers Airbus call for global aircraft subsidies pact
The EU has won a WTO dispute it brought in 2014 against the United States related to subsidies to Boeing, the aircraft producer. Boeing’s rival Airbus now wants an end to WTO dispute sagas. The WTO panel report does not concede victory to the EU for all subsidies the legality of which …
EU asks for ‘reasonable period of time’ to implement Argentina WTO ruling
The EU was rebuffed by the WTO’s Appellate Body, which upheld a dispute panel ruling stating that the EU’s antidumping duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina were illegal. The Appellate Body criticised the way the EU calculates and construes input costs for the products under investigation. The matter …
Russia requests establishment of panel on EU antidumping measures
Russia has requested that the WTO establish a dispute settlement panel to settle a dispute it launched in 2015 on antidumping measures in the EU concerning fertilisers and metals products (background here). At stake are the EU’s so-called cost-adjustment methodologies, which have been rebuffed by the WTO in a …
Switzerland flags EU steel import surveillance measures
The EU and Switzerland took stock of their bilateral trade relations under their 1994 free trade agreement in their annual joint committee meeting on Wednesday (23 November 2016). The Swiss appear to be the collateral victims of the EU’s attempts to curb Chinese steel. Though both sides generally appear …
Mexico and Uganda alcoholic beverages laws in EU limelight
The EU is looking after its alcoholic beverages industry in the WTO, the latest WTO meeting on technical barriers to trade reveals. The Commission is putting pressure on Colombia with a pending case on its domestic laws on alcoholic beverage marketing arrangements and taxes. Is it now setting its sights on Mexico and …
New EU trade defence methodology strikingly similar to previous – lawyers
Plus ça change. That’s how one could summarise the Commission’s approach to changing its current methodology applied to antidumping cases against China. Ahead of a move to do away with treating China as a planned economy in its trade defence law in December this year, the EU Commission is inventing …
EU China MES move makes few people happy
The EU’s proposal to change its antidumping legislation to prepare for a removal of China of its list of non market economies is being greeted with scepticism on both sides of the argument.
EU trade defence proposal – what to expect?
There is a lot of speculation about the exact content of the planned trade defence instrument overhaul the Commission will propose ahead of a December deadline to stop treating China as a non market economy in its antidumping proceedings. The proposal is expected to be sent to member states and …
