EU court rules in favour of Canada's free-trade deal with bloc
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Showing posts with label Free Trade Agreement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Trade Agreement. Show all posts
4/30/19
1/27/17
Britain: Ending The UK's Free Trade Fantasies - by Mark Manger
Theresa May’s highly anticipated speech on 17 January showed that slowly
but surely, the UK government is realising the constraints of global
trade rules. At last, the aims regarding future relations with the EU
are becoming clear: Britain will leave the single market, end the free
movement of EU citizens to the UK, set its own tariffs, but also seek a
comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU.
Negotiating a free trade agreement according to Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and Article 5 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has considerable advantages over the nebulous plans ministers have floated before, not least that it is a coherent strategy. It is also an obvious position that best serves the UK’s interests, and that many observers, including myself, hoped the UK government would assume once one of the best British qualities – being able to keep a cool head under fire – reasserted itself.
In principle, such an agreement could come very close to genuine free trade, especially because in these unprecedented negotiations, the partners start without tariffs on bilateral trade. Any duties resulting from the negotiations must fall between zero and the current EU tariffs on imports from WTO members who do not receive any preferential treatment. The EU cannot legally charge higher tariffs than the latter. And fortunately, the EU’s external tariffs are among the world’s lowest everywhere except in agriculture. Nonetheless, with the UK being much more dependent on the EU’s market than vice versa, the situation remains highly asymmetrical.
The UK’s best alternative to a negotiated agreement is often referred to as the ‘WTO option.’ That is also true for the EU. Research on bargaining suggests that in this case, the UK will offer almost tariff-free access for EU exports, while the EU will grant marginally better access than it currently offers to WTO members. On services, the EU will likely roll back access considerably. In fact, that is the pattern of most free trade agreements the EU has negotiated so far.
The general parameters of an EU-UK free trade agreement can therefore be predicted. Clearly, this policy choice comes with a significant economic cost in terms of market access, but the government appears willing to make such a trade-off. In principle, such an agreement should not even take long to negotiate. That it took months for the government to sort out its position and understand basic principles of global trade rules, however, suggests that it is still not listening to Whitehall enough. Or perhaps, as feared by many, that the government still lacks an understanding of essential trade policy principles. Building up such capacity now is imperative if the UK is to be able to secure a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU in a reasonable time frame.
Read more: Ending The UK's Free Trade Fantasies
Negotiating a free trade agreement according to Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and Article 5 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has considerable advantages over the nebulous plans ministers have floated before, not least that it is a coherent strategy. It is also an obvious position that best serves the UK’s interests, and that many observers, including myself, hoped the UK government would assume once one of the best British qualities – being able to keep a cool head under fire – reasserted itself.
In principle, such an agreement could come very close to genuine free trade, especially because in these unprecedented negotiations, the partners start without tariffs on bilateral trade. Any duties resulting from the negotiations must fall between zero and the current EU tariffs on imports from WTO members who do not receive any preferential treatment. The EU cannot legally charge higher tariffs than the latter. And fortunately, the EU’s external tariffs are among the world’s lowest everywhere except in agriculture. Nonetheless, with the UK being much more dependent on the EU’s market than vice versa, the situation remains highly asymmetrical.
The UK’s best alternative to a negotiated agreement is often referred to as the ‘WTO option.’ That is also true for the EU. Research on bargaining suggests that in this case, the UK will offer almost tariff-free access for EU exports, while the EU will grant marginally better access than it currently offers to WTO members. On services, the EU will likely roll back access considerably. In fact, that is the pattern of most free trade agreements the EU has negotiated so far.
The general parameters of an EU-UK free trade agreement can therefore be predicted. Clearly, this policy choice comes with a significant economic cost in terms of market access, but the government appears willing to make such a trade-off. In principle, such an agreement should not even take long to negotiate. That it took months for the government to sort out its position and understand basic principles of global trade rules, however, suggests that it is still not listening to Whitehall enough. Or perhaps, as feared by many, that the government still lacks an understanding of essential trade policy principles. Building up such capacity now is imperative if the UK is to be able to secure a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU in a reasonable time frame.
Read more: Ending The UK's Free Trade Fantasies
8/11/14
EU finalizes free trade agreement with Canada
Canada and the European Union have finalised the text of a proposed
free trade agreement after months of wrangling, in a deal which is
expected to serve as a blueprint for a similar agreement with the United
States.
The two sides initialised a deal in principle last October, but the talks then ran into trouble over issues ranging from financial services and investor protections to how beef and cheese quotas are shared out.
"Today, Canada and the European Union are pleased to announce that officials have reached a complete text, allowing translation and final legal review to commence," said a statement from the Canada Trade Ministry.
The deal would make Canada the world's only major economy with preferential access to the world's two largest economies, the EU and the United States.
"Out of more than 9,000 EU tariff lines, approximately 98% will be duty-free for Canadian goods when the Canada-EU trade pact comes into force," the ministry said.
For Europe, the accord is meant to be a template for its trade negotiations with the United States, which would encompass a third of world trade and almost half the global economy.
Read more: EU finalises free trade agreement with Canada | EurActiv
The two sides initialised a deal in principle last October, but the talks then ran into trouble over issues ranging from financial services and investor protections to how beef and cheese quotas are shared out.
"Today, Canada and the European Union are pleased to announce that officials have reached a complete text, allowing translation and final legal review to commence," said a statement from the Canada Trade Ministry.
The deal would make Canada the world's only major economy with preferential access to the world's two largest economies, the EU and the United States.
"Out of more than 9,000 EU tariff lines, approximately 98% will be duty-free for Canadian goods when the Canada-EU trade pact comes into force," the ministry said.
For Europe, the accord is meant to be a template for its trade negotiations with the United States, which would encompass a third of world trade and almost half the global economy.
Read more: EU finalises free trade agreement with Canada | EurActiv
6/18/13
Canada - EU: Harper Ends EU Trip Unable to Win Trade Deal Amid U.S. Talks - Andrew Mayeda and Theophilos Argitis
Prime Minister Stephen Harper concludes his eight-day European trip unable to complete a trade agreement with the European Union, just as the opening of EU-U.S. talks raises the risk that Canada will be left out.
Harper, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on the sidelines of the Group of Eight leaders’ summit in Northern Ireland, couldn’t persuade his European peers to drop their remaining objections in the talks. One of the biggest sticking points for Canada is access for the country’s beef and pork producers, a concession that faces resistance from France and Ireland, two of Europe’s biggest meat suppliers.
Failure to ultimately reach an accord would undermine Harper’s efforts to diversify Canada’s trade away from the U.S., its largest trading partner. While Harper has made free trade a key plank of his economic agenda, completing six accords since 2006, none have been with major economies.
“The longer the matter is not brought to a conclusion, the more likely it becomes that the European Union will turn its attention to the U.S.,” said Lawrence Herman, a lawyer at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP in Toronto who specializes in trade issues, by telephone June 7. If a pact isn’t reached in the next few weeks, it would represent “a rather serious setback for Canadian trade policy, given all the efforts of the Harper administration,” he said.
Read more: Harper Ends EU Trip Unable to Win Trade Deal Amid U.S. Talks (2) - Businessweek
3/8/13
Agriculture: EU-Peru Free trade agreement takes effect
Trade barriers between the EU and Peru were lifted as of 1 March 2013, when the EU's ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement concluded with Peru and Colombia in 2012 will be provisionally applied with Peru. The Agreement will open up markets for both EU and Peruvian exporters eventually bringing annual savings of more than €500m.
In this context, the agreement will substantially improve market access for Dutch and Peruvian exporters. In the long run, exporters of industrial and fisheries products will no longer have to pay customs duties and markets for agricultural products will be opened up considerably.
Besides the trade dimension of the agreement, the new regime will improve investment conditions, providing a stable, transparent, predictable and enforceable business environment.
The Trade Agreement will considerably improve the already increasing business relations between Perú and the Netherlands. This is expected to create significant new opportunities for businesses and consumers on both sides.
The economic bilateral relations between Peru and the Netherlands have greatly expanded in the last decade. The Netherlands has become a Hub for Peruvian exports to Europe, mainly for the agribusiness sector, with a total bilateral trade of nearly 1 billion dollars; the fourth main investor in Perú, with an investment stock of more than 1.5 billion dollars; and the sixth European country with the largest number of tourists visiting Perú, who benefit from the Dutch KLM daily non-stop flights Amsterdam-Lima.
Read more: EU-Peru FTA takes effect
In this context, the agreement will substantially improve market access for Dutch and Peruvian exporters. In the long run, exporters of industrial and fisheries products will no longer have to pay customs duties and markets for agricultural products will be opened up considerably.
Besides the trade dimension of the agreement, the new regime will improve investment conditions, providing a stable, transparent, predictable and enforceable business environment.
The Trade Agreement will considerably improve the already increasing business relations between Perú and the Netherlands. This is expected to create significant new opportunities for businesses and consumers on both sides.
The economic bilateral relations between Peru and the Netherlands have greatly expanded in the last decade. The Netherlands has become a Hub for Peruvian exports to Europe, mainly for the agribusiness sector, with a total bilateral trade of nearly 1 billion dollars; the fourth main investor in Perú, with an investment stock of more than 1.5 billion dollars; and the sixth European country with the largest number of tourists visiting Perú, who benefit from the Dutch KLM daily non-stop flights Amsterdam-Lima.
Read more: EU-Peru FTA takes effect
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