The informal meeting of trade ministers in Dublin (see EUROPE 13965/25) on Friday 23 October was dominated by continuing dialogue with China and preparations for the EU-Canada summit on 29 and 30 October. Also on the agenda were diversification and free trade agreements under negotiation.
China. During the first working session, European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič presented Member States with the results of the latest consultations on trade and investment (see EUROPE 13956/6), before turning to the follow-up to the European Council. Leaders asked the European Commission to come up with a new trade defence instrument that was capable of producing results quickly and effectively (see EUROPE 13961/3).
At a press conference on Friday, Commissioner Šefčovič mentioned a legislative ‘package’ on diversification. This would include the new ‘diversifyEU’ instrument (see EUROPE 13949/33) along with the new trade defence tool, which the Commission is currently working on.
But the package of measures set to be presented in December could be broader, the Commissioner suggested. “We see over the last couple of months, the importance of the trade diversion. We are also looking into the rules of origin elements in transshipment [editor’s note: of goods]”, said Mr Šefčovič.
Asked whether safeguard measures might be extended beyond hybrid vehicles to other sectors, the Commissioner said plastics could be next.
Canada. Relations with Ottawa also occupied much of the second working session. Ahead of the summit in Montreal, Canadian Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu was invited to attend events on the sidelines of the informal meeting in Dublin on Thursday and Friday.
“I think the European single market should not stop at the continental border of Europe”, said Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer ahead of the meeting. “We should identify who is able to be part of this single market, for example, Canada, not only in the sense of tariffs, also in the sense of product standards, also in the sense of worker mobility”, he explained.
According to our sources, digital trade is expected to be a focus of the summit. “We will have good brokers on [the digital economy] shortly”, Irish Trade Minister Helen McEntee confirmed at a press conference.
The previous day, Commissioner Šefčovič said that the EU was “intensely” negotiating a digital trade agreement. “More than 40% of our €51 billion trading services is already delivered digitally. […] We can further progress on negotiating this trade agreement”, he said.
United States. When leaders discussed relations with Washington over a working lunch on Friday, tariffs on wine and spirits came up again. “We are claiming for exemptions for wine and spirits for years [...] especially since the Turnberry Agreement. […] Each time I meet an American leader or responsible, I’m asking it”, insisted French Foreign Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier.
“We’ll be working very, very hard on making sure that we can further progress on negotiating this trade agreement […] that applies to all spirits [and] all wines”, said Mr Šefčovič.
There has, however, been no progress on steel derivatives (see EUROPE 13871/1). Dialogue between the European Commission and the US authorities is ongoing. (Original version in French by Juliette Verdes)