The Trade Policy Review of the European Union took place at the headquarters of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva on Monday 5 and Wednesday 7 June.
In the run-up to these meetings, the EU had already received more than 1,600 written questions from 41 delegations. While most members welcome the EU’s active role at the WTO, many are also seeking clarification on recent EU legislation that may affect trade.
This is particularly true of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is of concern to some of the EU-27’s trading partners. The future “anti-coercion” tool, the regulation against imported deforestation, the EU’s policy on pesticides and the “Net-Zero Industry Act” have also been criticised by several WTO delegations.
The United States also noted a “lack of adequate opportunities to offer meaningful comments on proposed regulations and decisions” proposed by the EU.
Several members are concerned about the impact of European legislation on their exports to the EU. For China, for example, the EU’s ‘Net-Zero Industry Act’ will limit the market share in the EU of the products concerned from third countries.
For the EU, however, the figures speak for themselves: most members have recorded increasing volumes of trade with the EU.
The EU’s ambassador to the WTO, João Aguiar Machado, tried to reassure his counterparts about the impact of European legislation. “The EU-27 will remain committed to transparency and non-discrimination as a key principle of their law-making rules and practices, ensuring full consistency with WTO obligations”, he said on Wednesday 7 June. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)