EU seeks trade accords with China, Korea as WTO talks stumble
EU Seeks Trade Accords With China, Korea as WTO Talks Stumble
By Simon Kennedy and Sandrine Rastello
Sept. 9 2006 (Bloomberg) — The European Union said it will seek bilateral trade deals with China and Korea, exploring new ways of conquering foreign markets as talks over a global trade pact flounder.
Negotiations over a broader World Trade Organization accord were suspended in July as the EU and U.S. accused each other of protecting their agricultural markets.
We are now at a crucial point in time when we're considering how to develop regional trade agreements,'' European Commission President Jose Barroso told reporters in Helsinki after meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun.
China's 200 billion-euro ($255 billion) trade relationship with the EU is weakened by disputes including European allegations that China is exporting cut-price shoes and failing to clamp down on the counterfeiting of brand-name products.
Wen, on his second visit to Europe in nine months, was rebuffed in his bid for the EU to recognize his country as a market economy. Such status could lead to lower duties on China in trade disputes with the EU.China and the European Union have enjoyed mutually beneficial economic ties and trade,’’ Wen said. Greater trade will benefit both sides.''
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The EU also stood by an embargo on weapons sales to China that was imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators. A statement didn't go beyond repeating the EU'swillingness’’ to rethink the embargo once China improves its human-rights record.
A French-led move to end the embargo was blocked by Britain and Germany last year after U.S. President George W. Bush warned that European weapons sales to China would upset the military balance on the Pacific rim.
Wen appealed for the EU to drop the ban, calling on the bloc’s leaders to exercise vision, to display farsightedness and courage in handling some of the differences between China and the European Union.''
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Barroso said China would win market economy status when it addressed weaknesses such as too much state influence and immature financial markets.Once the criteria are fulfilled the European Commission will not wait a day longer to grant market economy status to China,’’ he said.
The Chinese government has been pressing the EU for years to give the country, which joined the WTO in 2001, market economy rank.
The designation would require the EU to use cost figures from Chinese exporters when determining if goods are being dumped,'' or sold in Europe at below Chinese domestic prices or below the cost of production. Now, the EU uses data from other countries in deciding to slap anti-dumping duties on Chinese exports.
The EU has anti-dumping measures in force against more than three dozen Chinese products including bicycles, lamps and polyester fibers. It is now weighing whether to impose five-year duties on shoe imports from China.
The EU identified Korea as akey partner’’ and a statement between the two sides said exploratory talks between the EU and Korea will verify their common level of ambition and readiness to examine the feasibility of a comprehensive'' agreement.
At the WTO level, trade ministers from the U.S., Brazil, India and the EU meet in Rio de Janeiro today to try to revive the so-called Doha round.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said regional trade pacts were no substitute for multilateral agreements and urged the WTO talks to be revived in the interest of boosting economic growth.
Bilateral deals arecomplementary not contradictory’’ to multilateral agreements, Trichet said in Helsinki. ``We continue to hope it will be possible for the multilateral negotiations to take place.’’
