Against a backdrop of increasing trade tension fed by the isolationist and protectionist stance of the United States, EU heads of state said at the European summit of 28 and 29 June that they backed the multilateral trade system headed by the WTO, but called for the latter’s reform and the drawing up of new rules on subsidies for industry.
In its conclusions document, the European summit calls for ‘preserving and deepening the rules-based multilateral system,’ stressing the EU's...