The 11th round of negotiations towards the trade in services (TiSA) agreement among a subset of World Trade Organization (WTO) members has begun on Saturday. Our Geneva correspondent Ravi Kanth explains where the negotiations stand and what will be at stake this week. A clear asymmetry of demands between members is appearing, …
World Trade Organization
EU ready to agree to a scaled-down Doha deal
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström is ready to settle for a “calibrated” agreement to conclude the Doha Round multilateral trade negotiations by the end of this year. She wants the interests of the poorest countries in the development dossier to be addressed satisfactorily in the final deal. This is what emerges …
European trade policy: outlook and challenges for 2015
[sh_light_text ]The new year festivities in Europe are over. In 2015 the EU will face a busy trade policy agenda and some daunting challenges in fulfilling its objectives and promoting its interests. We outline some of them.[/sh_light_text]
Information technology trade talks falter at WTO
[sh_light_text ]Hopes that negotiations to update to the 1997 WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) could be concluded this week were dashed today. Differences between China and Korea over the inclusion of LCD screens proved to be unbridgeable, despite significant progress during the latest round of EU-hosted ITA-II talks. D Ravi Kanth …
Comment – The World Trade Organization: an Indian Summer?
[sh_light_text ]With the recent adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreeement, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has had a few very good weeks. Yet there is still a lot of work ahead to retake lost ground.[/sh_light_text]
Information technology: ITA-II progress in sight ahead of WTO General Council meeting
[sh_light_text ]The European Union will host starting on December 4 the next round of ITA talks, ahead of the next WTO General Council on 10 December in Geneva. There is confidence a deal can struck after the US and China reached an agreement to overcome their differences last month. But …
Divergent transatlantic approaches to post-Bali agenda appearing in WTO
[sh_light_text ]World Trade Organization (WTO) members adopted a much-awaited trade agreement centred on trade facilitation concluded in Bali in December last year. This first multilateral agreement since the WTO was created in 1994 is a step forward on the way to completing the “Doha Development Round” of multilateral trade negotiations launched in 2001. …
Obama, EU leaders call for new momentum in TTIP talks
[sh_light_text ]Though the G20 Brisbane summit’s key pledges this week-end have focused on taxation and finance, trade policy has received its fair share of attention, with both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bilateral trade agreements having witnessed progress on key dossiers in recent days.[/sh_light_text]
Comment: G20 and protectionism: What’s there to (really) worry about?
[sh_light_text ]Has G20 protectionism been talked up too much? The latest World Trade Organization (WTO) report, published jointly with the OECD, on trade restrictive measures in the G20 group of leading industrial economies and emerging markets, reveals that protectionism has not significantly been on the rise. Yet there are ‘murky’ areas of …
Green-goods initiative launched this week to underpin EU climate, energy goals
[sh_light_text ]The EU and 13 other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) including the US, China and Japan wrapped up the first round of talks on the Environmental Goods Trade (EGA) today in Geneva. The EU hopes the deal will help it meet its climate and energy security targets. But major …
