The EU27 trade ministers will meet in Brussels on Friday 22 May for a Foreign Affairs Council meeting in its ‘Trade’ configuration.
Discussions will focus in particular on the war in the Middle East and its repercussions on global trade, a subject regularly placed on the agenda this month of May, at the initiative of the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council. The exchanges are expected to focus mainly on the development of alternative trade routes and solutions to disruptions in supply chains.
The ministers will also discuss the follow-up to the 14th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which failed to produce substantial progress either on reform of the institution or on the moratorium relating to e-commerce (see EUROPE 13839/17).
Over the working lunch, the ministers will discuss the free trade agreements currently under negotiation, notably with Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. They will also return to the political agreement reached in trilogue on the joint ‘Turnberry’ agreement between the European Union and the United States (see EUROPE 13871/1). According to a senior European official, the Member States’ permanent representatives to the EU Council are expected to approve this agreement on 27 May.
Still regarding the commercial side, tensions with China, which is threatening to apply ‘countermeasures’ in retaliation for the Industrial Accelerator Act (see EUROPE 13857/16), will not be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting, the same official said. The European Commission has, however, scheduled a policy debate on EU-China relations for 29 May. (Original version in French by Juliette Verdes)