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EU External Trade

News and information about the European Union's trade policy.

EU proposes tax transparency for multinationals 13 April 2016, 18:21 CET
Multi-national companies operating in Europe will be required to publish country-by-country information on the tax they pay, according to new proposals announced by the European Commission on Tuesday.

EU initials partnership agreement with Malaysia 07 April 2016, 18:45 CET
The chief negotiators of the European Union and Malaysia have initialled text of an EU-Malaysia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia in Putrajaya. The initialling marks the successful closure of negotiations that started in October 2010.

EU proposals for the steel industry: Preserving sustainable jobs and growth in Europe 16 March 2016, 23:11 CET
The European Commission suggests policy measures to support the European steel sector to overcome its serious challenges, largely due to global overcapacity.

Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) - main elements 18 October 2016, 23:02 CET
The European Commission and the Canadian Government announced on 29 February that the legal review of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) English text had been completed. This includes a new approach on investment protection and investment dispute settlement.

EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking 26 February 2016, 15:53 CET
The European Commission adopted on 26 February an EU Action Plan to crack down on wildlife trafficking within the EU and strengthen the EU's role in the global fight against these illegal activities.

Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) 04 February 2016, 22:13 CET
The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is a trade agreement currently being negotiated by 23 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), including the EU. Together, the participating countries account for 70% of world trade in services.

EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement 31 July 2020, 17:49 CET
The European Union and Vietnam signed a Trade Agreement and an Investment Protection Agreement on 30 June 2019. Once in force, the agreements will provide opportunities to increase trade and support jobs and growth on both sides, through: Eliminating 99% of all tariffs; Reducing regulatory barriers and overlapping red tape; Ensuring protection of geographical indications; Opening up services and public procurement markets; Making sure the agreed rules are enforceable

EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: free trade part operational 1 January 2016 04 January 2016, 22:46 CET
On 1 January 2016, the European Union and Ukraine started applying the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) which forms part of the Association Agreement signed in June 2014. The rest of the Association Agreement has already been in force since November 2014.

TTIP: proposal for investment protection and Court System 12 November 2015, 16:22 CET
The EU formally presented to the US on 12 November its proposal for a reformed approach on investment protection and a new and more transparent system for resolving disputes between investors and states: the Investment Court System.

Trade for All: new EU trade and investment strategy 14 October 2015, 22:47 CET
The European Commission presented on 14 October a new trade and investment strategy, Trade for All. It says this is a more responsible approach which responds to new economic realities in line with the EU's foreign policy. Based on three key principles - effectiveness, transparency and values - it ensures trade policy benefits as many people as possible.

New Investment Court System for TTIP and other EU trade and investment negotiations 16 September 2015, 17:45 CET
The European Commission has approved its proposal for a new and transparent system for resolving disputes between investors and states – the Investment Court System.

Free Trade Agreement between EU and Vietnam 05 August 2015, 10:12 CET
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang on 4 August agreed in principle on a comprehensive and ambitious trade and investment agreement. The final legal texts will have to be ironed out by negotiators after the summer break, but the substance of the deal has been agreed. This Free Trade Agreement (FTA), for which negotiations started in October 2012, is the most ambitious and comprehensive FTA that the EU has ever concluded with a developing country, the second in the ASEAN region after Singapore, and a further building block towards the EU’s ultimate objective of an ambitious and comprehensive region-to-region EU-ASEAN FTA. This agreement will allow EU exporters and investors to access a fast-growing market of 90 million people and to consolidate their presence in one of the most dynamic regions in the world.

TTIP: ISDS mechanism for resolving investor disputes 09 June 2015, 21:50 CET
How to resolve disputes between foreign investors and states remains a thorny issue in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated by the European Commission and the United States. One of the mechanisms for arbitrating these disputes is known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), but what does it really mean and what is the concept behind it? This guide details the differences between ISDS and the other options available to protect investors.

SMEs and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - report 20 April 2015, 16:45 CET
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has significant potential for small and medium sized enterprises, according to a report released in Brussels on 20 April. It presents the results of a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) carried out in 2014 on challenges they face when exporting to the United States. It also uses newly available data to look at the scale of exports by EU SMEs to the United States.

Third annual report on the implementation of the EU-South Korea FTA 26 March 2015, 22:12 CET
The Annual Report on the implementation of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), presented today, provides further evidence on the contribution of trade to the economy. EU exports of goods to Korea increased by 35% since 2011, during the first three years of the agreement, the report shows.

RAPEX 2014 - Rapid Alert System report 23 March 2015, 16:45 CET
The European Commission has published new figures, showing that in 2014, nearly 2,500 products, ranging from toys to motor vehicles, were either stopped before they entered the EU or removed from markets because they were dangerous for EU consumers.

Trade and Investment Barriers Report 2015 19 March 2015, 22:07 CET
The EU's strategic economic partners - Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, and the United States - maintain a variety of barriers that significantly hinder international trade and investment opportunities of EU companies. This is the conclusion of the fifth edition of the EU's Trade and Investment Barriers Report (TIBR) presented on 19 March by the European Commission, identifying concrete obstacles to trade.

Proposals to improve transparency in Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement 29 January 2015, 17:48 CET
The European Commission proposed on 29 January to allow UN rules on transparency for Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to apply also to existing investment treaties that the EU and Member States have in place.

Consultation on investment protection in EU-US trade talks 13 January 2015, 16:39 CET
The European Commission published on 13 January its analysis of the almost 150,000 replies to its online consultation on investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The Commission asked the public for their views on a possible approach to protecting investments and settling investment-related disputes between private investors and governments. A key question in the consultation was whether the EU’s proposed approach for TTIP would achieve the right balance between protecting investors and safeguarding the EU’s right and ability to regulate in the public interest.

Commission publishes TTIP legal texts 07 January 2015, 15:28 CET
The European Commission published on 7 January a raft of texts setting out EU legal proposals in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) it is negotiating with the US. This is the first time the Commission has made public such proposals in bilateral trade talks and it says this reflects its commitment to greater transparency in the negotiations.

EU negotiating texts in TTIP 07 January 2015, 15:19 CET
The European Commission is negotiating TTIP as openly as possible. A final agreement would have 24 chapters, grouped together in 3 parts: Market access - Regulatory cooperation - Rules. As part of the Commission's latest transparency initiative, it is publishing: new 2-page factsheets, in plain language; negotiating texts we've given US negotiators: EU textual proposals on parts 2 and 3 of the TTIP – these set out how the Commission would want a final deal to read, line by line; EU position papers – what we want to achieve in a chapter.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) 12 November 2015, 21:15 CET
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a trade agreement that is currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States. It aims to remove trade barriers in a wide range of economic sectors to make it easier to buy and sell goods and services between the EU and the US. On top of cutting tariffs across all sectors, the EU and the US want to tackle barriers behind the customs border – such as differences in technical regulations, standards and approval procedures. These often cost unnecessary time and money for companies who want to sell their products on both markets. For example, when a car is approved as safe in the EU, it has to undergo a new approval procedure in the US even though the safety standards are similar. The TTIP negotiations will also look at opening both markets for services, investment, and public procurement. They could also shape global rules on trade.

Global trade increasingly obstructed: EU Report 17 November 2014, 17:14 CET
The tendency to impose trade-restricting measures remains strong among the EU's commercial partners, fuelling continuing uncertainty in the world economy. These are the main findings of the European Commission's annual report on protectionism published on 17 November.

EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) 26 September 2014, 22:58 CET
The EU-Canada summit taking place today in Ottawa marks the end of the 5-year talks for a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Canada is one of the most advanced non-European countries with which the EU has ever negotiated a trade agreement. The EU has much to gain from closer trade ties with a like-minded partner: Canada is a sizeable market, an important destination for European investment and a country rich in natural resources. Also, this agreement will allow EU companies to compete with US exporters on the Canadian market on a level playing field, as the US and Canada have already liberalised their trade under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Once implemented, the agreement is expected to increase EU-Canada trade in goods and services by 23% and boost EU GDP by about €12 billion a year. It will create major opportunities across all areas of the economy.

EC consults on protection of geographical indications for non-agricultural products 15 July 2014, 22:49 CET
The European Commission launched on 15 July a Green Paper consultation on a possible extension of geographical indication protection to non-agricultural products.