China, EU To Talk On Trade Disputes

It has been announced that the European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng are to meet in Beijing on June 21, during the 27th annual EU-China Joint Committee, to discuss the currently difficult trade relations between the European Union (EU) and China.

The difficulties currently being seen in EU-China trade relations have seen increasingly acrimonious exchanges on the provisional anti-dumping duties (ADs) imposed by the European Commission earlier this month on around EUR21bn (USD28bn) of Chinese exports of solar products to the EU, swiftly followed by an announcement by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of AD and anti-subsidy investigations into EU wine exports into China.

China is also, since November last year, investigating imports of solar-grade polysilicon from the EU, while the EU has recently notified the World Trade Organization of a request for consultations with China on the latter's ADs on the imports of certain high-performance stainless steel seamless tubes from Europe.

While EU Trade Spokesman John Clancy disclosed that confidential technical-level discussions have already begun with a team of Chinese experts in Brussels in a bid to find a negotiated settlement for the solar products dispute, that particular problem does not appear to be on the actual agenda of the Joint Committee.

However, as Clancy added, "it is expected that De Gucht and Gao will discuss this issue in the margins of the Joint Committee," and MOFCOM spokesman Shen Danyang confirmed that "both parties will conscientiously sum up the past year in bilateral trade and economic relations, to include the solar products dispute and other problems, and to explore new ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation."

Clancy emphasized that "the EU's ambition remains to find an amicable solution as soon as possible, but I should also stress that discussions have only just begun and therefore we are still at a very early stage in the negotiation process."

With Chinese exports being well-integrated into European companies' value-chains, and thus contributing to their competitiveness in world markets, European businesses both in China and in Europe are concerned about the number of issues in EU-China trade relations.

Total bilateral trade in goods between the EU and China reached EUR432bn in 2012. Within that total, EU exports to China increased by 5.6 percent to reach a record EUR143.9bn, and they have more than doubled in the past five years.

The EU-China talks in the Joint Committee are also expected to focus on the preparations for the launch of negotiations for a bilateral investment agreement, market access barriers in a number of sectors, licensing and access issues in the area of financial and telecommunication services, and ways to improve the enforcement of, and cooperation on, intellectual property rights.

June 20, 2013

Source: Tax News