-
Advertorial
-
FOCUS
-
Guide
-
Lifestyle
-
Tech and Vogue
-
TechandScience
-
CHTF Special
-
Nanshan
-
Futian Today
-
Hit Bravo
-
Special Report
-
Junior Journalist Program
-
World Economy
-
Opinion
-
Diversions
-
Hotels
-
Movies
-
People
-
Person of the week
-
Weekend
-
Photo Highlights
-
Currency Focus
-
Kaleidoscope
-
Tech and Science
-
News Picks
-
Yes Teens
-
Budding Writers
-
Fun
-
Campus
-
Glamour
-
News
-
Digital Paper
-
Food drink
-
Majors_Forum
-
Speak Shenzhen
-
Shopping
-
Business_Markets
-
Restaurants
-
Travel
-
Investment
-
Hotels
-
Yearend Review
-
World
-
Sports
-
Entertainment
-
QINGDAO TODAY
-
In depth
-
Leisure Highlights
-
Markets
-
Business
-
Culture
-
China
-
Shenzhen
-
Important news
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
Europe closes in on fresh trade deal
    2018-01-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

TOP officials from the European Union will meet with the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on Jan. 30 in Brussels to gauge the prospects for a free trade deal that would follow groundbreaking commercial pacts with Japan and Canada.

The EU-Mercosur talks began almost two decades ago, faltered and were re-started in 2010. Trump’s move into the White House a year ago with his “America First” agenda prompted an EU push to wrap up the negotiations, which advanced before getting hung up last month over the politically sensitive issues of agriculture and cars.

“Our aim is to conclude a very ambitious trade agreement between us and Mercosur in the coming weeks,” EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. “We aim to finalize this very soon because the clock is ticking.”

EU policymakers are seeking to keep markets open worldwide in the face of Trump’s anti-globalization stance and to underscore the bloc’s continuing commercial clout as Britain prepares to leave. In addition to building on existing European free trade pacts with partners that also include Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea, a deal with Mercosur would give the EU political momentum as it gears up for talks with Australia and New Zealand.

The United States’ threat to global order in place since the end of World War II was highlighted last week when Trump invoked rarely used “safeguard” rules to impose tariffs on U.S. imports of solar panels and washing machines.

With EU-Mercosur trade worth almost 85 billion euros (US$105 billion) in 2016, a market opening agreement would be among Europe’s biggest. The meeting Tuesday will be at ministerial level, giving both sides a chance to make political concessions that would embolden the negotiators.

Mercosur says an EU offer to open further its agricultural markets, including for beef, is inadequate. Malmstrom’s team in December proposed to let Mercosur export to the bloc at reduced duties an extra 70,000 tons of beef, 600,000 tons of ethanol and 100,000 tons of sugar annually.

“If we don’t get a significant agricultural offer, we cannot achieve this agreement,” Rigoberto Gauto Vielman, Paraguay’s ambassador to the EU, told the European Parliament’s trade committee Tuesday last week in Brussels. Europe must do more to ensure a “fair and reasonable” accord, he said.

The EU counters that its farm offer is generous and Mercosur must agree to open its markets more to European cheeses, cars and car parts. (SD-Agencies)

 

深圳报业集团版权所有, 未经授权禁止复制; Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.
Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn