In a time of increasing trade barriers, the European Union achieved, in 2018, the removal of 35 trade and investment barriers in third countries, according to a European Commission report published on Monday 17 June.
According to the Commission, since the advent of the Juncker Commission in 2014, 123 trade barriers have been removed, allowing the export of over €6 billion in additional European products.
"This is equivalent to the benefits of a number of our free trade agreements", says Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in the preamble to the document.
35 barriers eliminated
The Commission has eliminated 35 trade barriers, ten fewer than in 2016 (see EUROPE 12049/7), notably in China, Japan, India and Russia. The sectors affected were very diverse, ranging from agriculture and fisheries, automobiles, textiles and leather, to wines and spirits, cosmetics, mineral products, aircraft parts and computer equipment, the report notes.
Among the cases cited as examples, the EU regained access to the Chinese market for Dutch veal and access to the Indian leather market for a Spanish tannery, dismantled Japanese restrictions on the use of additives - albeit authorised ones - in wine and spirits and compulsory textile labelling in Egypt.
Obstacles still on the rise
This report on trade and investment barriers also confirms the increase in barriers faced by European exporters in foreign markets. The report mentions 45 barriers implemented in 2018, bringing the total number of trade barriers to 425, in force by 59 countries. This is a third fewer barriers than in 2017, but their economic impact is estimated to have doubled in 2018: flows would affect 51.4 billion euros of exports, compared to 23.1 billion euros in 2017.
In addition, EU exporters have faced increasingly complex and systemic barriers in important markets, confirming the growing trend of protectionism highlighted in the previous two reports, the report notes.
In this obstacle race, China leads the countries with the highest number of barriers recorded (37 barriers), closely followed by Russia (34), India (25), Indonesia (25) and the United States (23). However, it is the measures applied by China, the United States, India and Algeria that affect European exporters the most, accounting for 80% of the barriers affecting EU exports and investments.
The sectors most affected are mainly steel, aluminium and information and communication technologies.
Popularizing trade defence
In 2015, in its "Trade for All" strategy, the European Commission identified the application of international trade rules as an absolute priority of European trade policy. In 2018, the institution organised Market Access Days in the Member States to raise awareness among small businesses of the EU's trade defence options. In just over 12 months, events with local companies were organised in Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Portugal and France.
This is the second of three reports on trade defence policy implementation measures that the Commission will publish before the end of its mandate.
To read the report: https://bit.ly/2ImRGb1 (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)