This year’s annual informal Swiss-hosted WTO ministerial meeting in Davos, held the very same day of the inauguration of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States (20 January 2017), was fairly low key. Attendees, which did not include the United States Trade Representative, mainly rejoiced at the prospect of seeing the Trade …
World Trade Organization
Comment: Why China, US, EU should revive EGA talks in 2017
The world trading system and climate policies need EGA to succeed. Why waste another year to conclude the environmental goods pact in the WTO? Front-row EGA observer Peter Brun on what happened and what comes next for the supposedly easy pact that stumbled last December 2016. More than a month …
Analysis : The EU’s 2017 trade challenges
In 2017, trade policy in the EU will most likely be about salvaging what can be salvaged and preparing the ground for better political times in future, writes Iana Dreyer.
COM review of antidumping duties on Argentina and Indonesia biodiesel part of broader web of legal disputes
The Commission announced it was undertaking a review of its antidumping measures applied to biodiesel imported from Indonesia and Argentina which have been in force since 2013. The move is only part of a wider web of legal disputes regarding these measures. The announcement states that the EU aims to comply with …
Comment: Is there a point to the ‘fatty alcohol’ WTO case?
Short observations by Iana Dreyer. The WTO dispute settlement body recently largely took sides with the EU in an obscure antidumping case on imports of alcohols derived from various oils, otherwise known as ‘fatty alcohols’. Indonesia initiated a WTO dispute panel in 2012 a few months after the …
Paperwork to export: ITC-EU study maps key trade barriers for SMEs
Russia is perhaps the most restrictive market for European small and medium-sized companies. Thirteen percent of EU SMEs find the EU’s ‘dual-use’ regulation aiming at curbing exports that could lead to the production of weapons of mass destruction a bureaucratic hell. This is the kind of hands-on finding …
TiSA: Global Services Coalition calls for swift resumption of negotiations
In a letter to trade ambassadors in Geneva, business groups have called on negotiators to ensure the Trade in Services Agreement negotiations can resume as quickly as possible. Negotiators buried their hatchets in the days following the election of Donald Trump to become the next US president. Washington lost …
Environmental Goods Agreement – why talks faltered
The Environmental Goods Agreement, a deal under negotiation among seventeen WTO members who cover the bulk of trade in technologies that can help make the planet a more liveable place for future generations, was supposed to be easy. It turned out be a hornet’s nest. This is why. When …
Environmental Goods Agreement talks collapse in Geneva
The chairs of a ministerial of environmental goods agreement – EGA – negotiations USTR Michael Froman and European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström decided to give up on Sunday (4 December 2016) on two-year old negotiations to eliminate tariffs on a list of green goods initially drawn by the Asia-Pacific group APEC, but hope …
EGA talks on knife edge amidst rift with China
The trade ministers of seventeen members of the Environmental Goods Agreement talks – minus one – will gather in Geneva on 3&4 December to try and clinch a final deal. The chances of success appear low. Disagreements over some sensitive products remain high, so are disagreements to the exact extent of …
