Sunday, March 24, 2013

EU, Protectionism and a strategy

For those interested in the EU's views on protectionism and trade one can look at the Trade and Investment Barriers Report 2013. I am not going into the specifics of the report (it is a wealth of information of EU's perception of trade barriers implemented by other members of the WTO) and the views expressed but the broad strategy on how to tackle trade barriers seems to be clearly outlined. It lists 4 broad strategies:

1.Trade Diplomacy
2. Dispute Settlement
3. Effective use of WTO Committees 
4. FTA negotiations

The broad strategy is detailed here:
"Against the evidence of rising protectionism around the world, the European Commission will continue to ensure that the EU's trading partners stick to their commitments and keep their markets open. Firstly, it will use the trade diplomacy instrument, leveraging on EU's global network of Delegations and working closely with the EU Member States. Secondly, it will use the WTO's Dispute Settlement Mechanism and the EU's presence in WTO Committees to enforce international trade rules. Finally, the European Commission will use negotiations for bilateral trade agreements and WTO accessions to address certain specific trade disruptive measures in third countries."
Some tips to be picked up by other WTO members on how to use international trade rules to pursue national interest?


No comments: