Tag: tariffs

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.

European Union countries are embroiled in a deepening dispute over an Italian proposal to temporarily drop import tariffs on dozens of raw industrial goods, a move supposed to help EU manufacturers weather the economic crisis.

The European Union and the United States are holding talks on forging a pact with OECD countries and China to eliminate duties on green goods, as part of a deal with Beijing in view of a global climate agreement to be reached in Copenhagen by the end of the year.

The European Commission has launched an investigation into newspaper allegations that a top official gave sensitive information to reporters posing as representatives of Chinese businessmen, it announced yesterday (8 September).

India and Brazil have slammed the door on negotiations with the EU and the US at a 'G4' meeting in Postdam, Germany, increasing the likelihood of a total breakdown in efforts to conclude an international trade pact that experts say would add billions to the global economy. 

EU member states adopted an international agreement that will eliminate customs duties on all new pharmaceuticals traded with the US and Switzerland.

The EU is set to lodge a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization against India, in an effort to prise open a growing market for spirits and wine.

As EU ministers struggle to decide whether to impose duties on Asian-shoe imports to protect European industry, the Commission is to lay out a new trade strategy that rejects protectionism.

From 29 June till 3 July 2006, Ministers and representatives of the 149 members of the WTO are meeting in Geneva to find an agreement on a multilateral trade deal.

NATO's Prague summit approved seven new members and decided to create a rapid reaction force in what is seen as an effort to radically overhaul the Western alliance.