The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between China and the European Union will not pass the European Parliament in its current form, predicted former EU trade minister Cecelia Malmstrom at a Peterson Institute for International Economics event on April 21. Due to dueling sanctions over human rights violations in China's Xinjiang province and the agreement's lack of substance on key areas such as sustainable development, Malmstrom opined that, without alterations and a breakthrough on sanctions, the agreement would not pass.
The United Kingdom and Serbia signed a Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement ensuring continued preferential trade access between the two nations, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced in an April 19 news release. The agreement will allow for trading terms similar to those prior to Brexit. The U.K. has a 682 million pound trading relationship with the Eastern European nation, and top exports to Serbia from Britain include scientific instruments, medicine and pharmaceutics, machinery and clothing, the release said.
The European Union, via the Economic Ministry of Belgium, has revoked Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davison's Binding Origin Information (BOI) credentials, hiking tariffs on the company's entire product portfolio from 56%, the company announced in an April 19 news release. In the release, Harley-Davidson claimed the move would “effectively prohibit the company from functioning competitively in Europe,” and “underscore the very real harm of an escalating trade war to our stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic.” The EU originally placed tariffs on motorcycles in retaliation for U.S. Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
The European Council will provide 1.37 million euros in new funding for implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty, the body announced in an April 16 news release. The additional funding will be to assist treaty signees with their national arms export control systems, the release detailed. EU support will be tailored to training local and regional ATT experts to foster greater implementation, creating a database to match implementation needs and resources, and building IT and communications systems to enable better cooperation between the ATT points of contacts for member countries and the ATT Secretariat, the EC said.
Despite a recent meeting between top U.K. and EU officials, a deal on Northern Ireland is "many weeks away," warned an EU official, Bloomberg reported April 16. David Frost, the head of the U.K.'s relations with the EU, met in Brussels April 15 with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic. The pair intend to meet again in the next two weeks, according to Bloomberg. Following Brexit, an effective trade border rose down the Irish Sea, prompting blowback from Northern Ireland. The EU subsequently brought legal action against the U.K. over its implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.
Switzerland's Federal Council approved an agreement with the United Kingdom granting mutual recognition of the authorized economic operator status, the council announced in an April 14 news release. The agreement also authorizes AEO status for individual companies, allowing for reduced technical and security-related customs barriers for goods. Following the U.K.'s departure from the European Union, the U.S.has an advance summary declaration obligation for all goods coming into Switzerland, the release said. The U.K. has yet to ratify the agreement.
The Federation of Small Businesses, a small-business industry group in the United Kingdom, is seeking British government export assistance, it said in an April 13 news release. The FSB cited recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that U.K. total exports dropped 10.3% in February compared with the same month last year. “The Government should now turn to its build back better agenda: cutting the non-wage costs of employment to spur hiring, ending a debilitating late payment crisis that has worsened through [COVID-19] lockdowns, and taking innovative approaches to emergency debt to realise meaningful economic value,” FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry said.
The E3 -- France, Germany and the United Kingdom -- released a joint statement April 14 rejecting Iran's escalatory measures of increasing uranium enrichment up to 60% using advanced centrifuges. Iran the previous day told the International Atomic Energy Agency it is ramping up its uranium enrichment capacity, prompting international concern. The statement called the move “particularly regrettable,” coming as the U.S. has rejoined substantive discussions about bringing Iran back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “Iran’s dangerous recent communication is contrary to the constructive spirit and good faith of these discussions,” it said. “In light of recent developments, we reject all escalatory measures by any actor and call upon Iran not to further complicate the diplomatic process.”
A United Kingdom strategic export controls annual report lists all export licensing decisions made by the British government from 2020. For all of last year, the U.K. received 12,252 standard individual export license applications, granting 11,974 of them. The government also issued 353 open individual export licenses out of the 393 applications it received.
European professors speaking about the future of the trans-Atlantic trade relationship said that while it's logical for democratic, rule-of-law countries to coordinate trade policy against an authoritarian rival, that's easier said than done.