Tag: trade dispute

The European Parliament approved a deal between the EU and both the United States and Canada on hormone-treated beef yesterday (14 March), ending one of the trading powers' oldest disputes.

After months of silent scramble, a battle between the EU and the US on IT customs tariffs erupted after Washington decided to file a formal complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against European duties on certain high tech goods, including flat-screen TVs and multifunctional printers.

The is still a lot of technical work to be done before the Commission makes a proposal on a possible "adjustment mechanism" to compensate EU industries which find themselves at a competitive disadvantage over countries with less stringent CO2 regulations, according to Jos Delbeke, a top official at the Commission's Environment Directorate.

European biodiesel manufacturers have threatened to file complaints to the Commission and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) concerning US biodiesel subsidies, which they say are threatening both European industry and the Union's ambitious target of achieving a 10% share for biofuels in transport fuel by 2020.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has lost $27 billion in revenues over the past three years, due to the United States' payment of "lavish" illegal subsidies to its own planemaker Boeing, EU lawyers have told the World Trade Organization.

US allegations that member states granted Airbus $205 billion in illegal subsidies are "completely unrealistic", EU trade officials have said ahead of a hearing on what is expected to be the biggest-ever trade dispute in the history of the World Trade Organization.

The EU asked the World Trade Organization to rule on the legality of India's high duties on imports of wine and spirits on 26 March 2007, arguing that they harm Europe's wine and Scotch-whisky producers.

With this policy brief, Brian Hindley of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) expresses his doubts on the economic justification of EU anti-dumping actions.

To the anger of green NGOs, the EU has decided not to appeal against a WTO ruling which upholds a US-led complaint that it is illegally blocking imports of genetically modified food.

As the EU and the US prepare for their biggest-ever battle in the WTO, Boeing plays down the effect that the dispute could have on transatlantic relations but stresses the need for both parties to focus on a negotiated settlement.

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.

Chinese shoemakers and European retailers are threatening legal action after the EU adopted a decision to impose anti-dumping duties against imports of leather footwear from China and Vietnam.

The EU Commission is expected to impose anti-dumping tariffs of up to 20% on shoes with leather uppers imported from China and Vietnam.

With pullovers, trousers, blouses, T-shirts, bras and yarns made in China and worth hundreds of millions of euro blocked in warehouses, the Commission is under growing pressure to come up with a solution fast.

EU trade representative Pascal Lamy and and his US counterpart Robert Zoellick have exchanged strong comments after the two trading partners filed competing unfair trade cases to the WTO over state aid to Airbus and Boeing.

International CEOs will meet Presidents Bush and Prodi to discuss a barrier-free transatlantic market at the EU-US summit. Consumers' unions are boycotting the summit after being declined direct assess to top leaders.

The EU-US Summit will take place on 25-26 June. Issues at stake include terrorism, Iraq, the wider Mediterranean and Middle East, weapons of mass destruction, HIV/AIDS and the transatlantic economic relationship.

Sustainable trade implies a trading system that does not harm the environment or deteriorate social conditions while promoting economical growth.

Russia knows it will soon have to live with a stronger EU of 25 Member States, but the EU needs to be more coherent in its approach to its big neighbour, says Michael Emerson of CEPS ahead of the Russian elections March 14.

Transatlantic relations still under strain as a CEPS symposium and a reception by the US Mission on 25 November mark 50 years of EU-US partnership.

This World Bank report concludes that a development-friendly trade deal could spur global growth and lift 144 million people out of poverty by 2015.

This CEPS Task Force Report highlights the importance of the Cancún trade ministerial meeting in the Doha Development Agenda, especially as regards global agricultural markets. The report argues that all developing countries should embrace the cause of unilateral trade reform themselves, rather than adopt adversarial positions in their trade relations with the world's four big trade groups.

The EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy is meeting the trade ministers from the 13 candidate countries in Bucharest on 9 and 10 May to discuss co-operation on WTO issues.

The Commission circulated among Member States a draft final list of U.S. products subject to sanctions under the Foreign Sales Corporations WTO case, on 26 February. The communication comes only days before Lamy's visit to the U.S. where he is likely to face pressure over the EU's moratorium on GMOs.