The degree of openness or firmness of the EU’s trade policy continues to be debated among the Member States. With only a few days to go before the potential announcement of provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, some countries are urging caution, while others are calling for swift action. At the meeting of European trade ministers on Thursday 30 May, a consensus nevertheless emerged around the principle that trade will play a major role in the EU’s competitiveness.
“We need an open, proactive and ambitious trade policy. We also need to take into account risks related to dependencies”, said the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib, at the end of the meeting. A number of ministers reiterated their country’s position in favour of a trade policy that is as open as possible.
With this in mind, these same Member States warned against the use of trade defence tools. The provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles that the Commission is planning to impose in the near future are causing a stir in the most liberal countries, such as Sweden. “From a general perspective, we’re a bit sceptical. We don’t want to engage in any kind of trade war. Obviously we see problems happening in China but there also risks when it comes to such tariffs”, said Sweden’s Minister for Trade, Johan Forssell.
Ireland also believes that the EU should maintain the most open relations possible with its partners: “Let’s be cautious, Ireland is a country that favours an open economy, fair trade, and we believe in preserving relationships around the world”, said Irish Minister for Trade Peter Burke.
Other countries, such as France and Poland, are broadly in favour of imposing tariffs to combat the overrepresentation of Chinese vehicles on the European market.
The Belgian minister summed up the discussions as follows: “Trade defence instruments must be implemented in an optimal manner”.
Export control
Caution is also called for when it comes to amending the regulation governing export controls on dual-use goods. In January 2024, the European Commission published a white paper in which it suggested additions to the list of products targeted by the controls (see EUROPE 13335/1).
In a set of conclusions adopted on Thursday 30 May, the EU27 are cautious about this idea. In their view, adding products to a list that is set by multilateral regimes is “unsuitable”, given the Member States’ international commitments.
The Commission had proposed adding only those products which had been the subject of proposals within multilateral regimes, but which had been blocked by Russia in these same forums. In this way, it hopes to reduce the disparities between Member States, which impose controls on more products than others. Export controls are a national competence.
See the EU Council’s conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/cga
Relations with Africa
Regarding Africa, the EU27 are largely in agreement: the EU must deepen its trade and investment links with the continent. This can take the form of investment facilitation agreements, as well as, for example, sectoral agreements on raw materials. In recent months, the EU has signed memoranda of understanding with Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Zambia.
During the ministers’ meeting, they formally approved the Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya (see EUROPE 13361/12).
Another point raised by the Member States during their discussions was the need for the European co-legislators to take greater account of the impact of their new instruments on trading partners, particularly in Africa. The regulation on imported deforestation and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) were mentioned as examples of unilateral measures that affect developing countries. “This will be an important challenge for the next European Parliament”, said Hadja Lahbib. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)