Tag: WTO

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to arrive in Brussels today (20 December) for an EU-Russia summit that is not expected to produce any accords. As EU diplomats explained, the meetings are designed to foster “positive interdependence” between the EU and its biggest neighbour.

SPECIAL REPORT / As EU countries are struggling to fully transpose a controversial services directive helping firms trade across borders, the 27 EU nations and a group of global ‘friends’ are eyeing an International Services Agreement to open up global services markets, bypassing the deadlocked Doha negotiations.

The European Commission has drawn up a plan to outlaw planet-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in domestic refrigerators and freezers by 2015, and commercial coolers by 2020, under a draft regulation seen by EurActiv.

Ukraine has told its trading partners it wants to raise tariffs on hundreds of imported goods, a move that could unleash protectionist forces and may even pose a threat to the €14 trillion global trade system. EU sources told EurActiv that this could raise “systemic questions” over the country’s relations with the Union.

Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization today (22 August), ending a 19-year wait to become part of the global club.

China denied today (20 June) that it interferes with prices on the global rare earths market amid a trade dispute with the EU other major economies, saying product quality variations account for the price gap between the metals it produces for export and domestic use.

Europe yesterday (13 March) challenged China in the World Trade Organization over its export restrictions on raw materials, simultaneously launching proceedings with the US and Japan for the first time.

As tensions between the United States and Russia increase over issues such as missile defence and WTO accession, Moscow is attempting to create a rift between Central Europeans and their North American allies, argues Lauren Goodrich.

EU and China have complementary assets to team up and push the world economic governance in the right direction, but they first have to tame each other, said former EU Ambassador Paul Trân Van Thinh in an interview with EurActiv, as China prepared to discuss a bailout package for the euro at the G20 in Cannes.

The Commission today (9 August) welcomed Russia's confirmation that it has cancelled an import ban on fresh EU vegetables, almost two months after the source of a serious outbreak of E.coli was identified.

One month after the EU identified a deadly E.coli bacteria outbreak in Germany, Russia has started resuming imports of vegetables from a total of six European countries, apparently taking advantage of a recent bilateral agreement that allows it to treat the EU market on a nation-by-nation basis.

Trade judges on Wednesday (18 May) partially overturned a ruling that had accused EU states of giving Airbus illegal subsidies, but said the aircraft maker did receive billions of dollars of unfair aid that harmed Boeing.

World Trade Organisation members have little time left to rescue the 10-year old Doha trade talks and end a fight over manufacturing trade between the United States and major emerging economies like China, India and Brazil before they meet next week in Geneva.

A free trade area rather than a strategic partnership is what the EU needs with India, writes Gauri Khandekar for Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE.

To illustrate the changes in Ukraine under its new leadership, the country's foreign minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, referred to three bridges in Kyiv, the construction of which had been stagnating for the past five years. Now people can see that they are actually being built, he told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Russia and the European Union struck a deal yesterday (24 November) to phase out Russian export tariffs on raw materials, paving the way for Moscow to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.

The European Commission yesterday (16 August) criticised the World Trade Organisation, which ordered the bloc to remove high-tech import tariffs on electronic goods based on a complaint lodged by the US, Japan and Taiwan. The EU executive said it had not yet decided whether to appeal against the ruling.

A robust rebound in world trade and political progress at the G20 have set the stage for a renewed push to agree a global trade deal, according to top-ranking officials from the EU, US and China. EurActiv reports from the European Business Summit (EBS).

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus may be on the brink of creating a supranational body modelled on European integration, but this could be a difficult task given the problems that their customs union has faced so far, writes George Bovt, a journalist and political observer, in a March publication for the EU-Russia Centre.

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the conclusion of the 24th EU-Russia summit in Stockholm show that relations between Europe and Russia are at a critical juncture, writes George Bovt in a November article for the EU-Russia Centre.

Russia has expressed renewed interest in joining the World Trade Organisation, saying that with US help, this could be achieved in three months. However, US officials said on Monday (21 September) that progress depended on Moscow's "dedication" to achieving that goal.

A very important priority of China's relations with the EU is to vigorously promote co-operation in energy saving, emission reduction, environmental protection and new energy sources, writes Ambassador Song Zhe, head of the Mission of the People's Republic of China to the EU, in an essay published on the mission's webpage on 18 April.

The European Parliament today (22 October) approved Catherine Ashton as the EU's new trade commissioner, after the British Labour party nominee overcame critics who had questioned her ability to fulfil the role.

For the third year running, global trade negotiations came to a disappointing end yesterday (29 July) as countries refused to compromise on opening up their national markets for agricultural goods. The talks in Geneva were considered a "last chance" for a deal before the US Presidential elections in November and are unlikely to be reopened before January next year at the very earliest.