Brussels, 04/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European textile and clothing sector has offensive interests in the framework of bilateral agreements with the two other large industrialised economies.
For the two negotiations, the association of the European textile industry (Euratex) advocates an offensive approach in favour of the immediate dismantling of all tariff and non-tariff barriers. Euratex hopes that the two agreements will result in a duty- and quota-free market, without a transition period and without exceptions, where there is harmonisation and mutual recognition with regard to non-tariff barriers. Euratex also expects a high degree of intellectual property protection and a high degree of protection in the way rules of origin are managed.
It is this that Euratex called for before the Commission's negotiators (Ignacio Bercero for the negotiations with the US, and Mauro Petriccione for the negotiations with Japan) during a working lunch sponsored by the leader of the European Parliament's international trade committee, Vital Moreira (S&D, Portugal) on 26 September. Bercero and Petriccione asked the European industry to find common positions with its counterparts.
The US and Japan are respectively the second and seventh largest export markets for the European textile and clothing sector. The EU records a trade surplus in this sector of over €2.8 billion with the US and nearly €1.2 billion with Japan. (EH/transl.fl)