The EU and the United Arab Emirates formally launched negotiations on a free trade agreement, the European Commission announced this week. Their first meeting, set to begin as early as next month, will center on "reducing tariffs on goods and facilitating services, digital trade and investment flows," the commission said. The negotiations also will look into ways to boost trade in strategic sectors. The UAE is the EU's 19th-largest trading partner in goods.

The EU on May 28 imposed antidumping duties ranging from 13% to 62% on tinplate from China, the Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security announced. Provisional duties had been imposed Jan. 14 after the EU said Chinese tinplate imports were harming the domestic industry.

The Council of the European Union on May 27 adopted a "general approach" to negotiate with the European Parliament on a measure that would exempt most importers from the new carbon border tax rules (see 2505230008). The proposal also would simplify the carbon border adjustment mechanism rules for importers, the council said, including by simplifying "the authorisation procedure, the data collection processes, the calculation of embedded emissions, the emission verification rules, the calculation of the authorised CBAM declarants’ (parties wishing to import goods subject to the CBAM) financial liability during the year of imports into the EU, and the claim by authorised CBAM declarants for carbon prices paid in third countries." The council next will begin negotiations with Parliament.

Members of the EU Parliament's Committee on International Trade are in Washington this week to discuss political, trade and investment relations between the U.S. and the EU. The delegation, led by committee Chair Bernd Lange of Germany, will hold meetings May 27-29 with various U.S. agencies, lawmakers, business groups, trade union representatives, think tanks and academia. They will specifically talk about "how the tariffs imposed by the US administration are being applied, how business is adapting to the tariffs and how can EU-US trade tensions be eased moving forward," Parliament said.

The European Parliament on May 22 endorsed a European Commission proposal that it said would exempt 90% of EU importers from the bloc's upcoming carbon border tax (see 2502060060). The new rules would mostly exclude small and medium-sized companies that import "only small quantities" of goods covered by the carbon border adjustment mechanism -- less than 50 metric tons of those goods per year.

The EU launched an antidumping duty investigation May 22 on polyethylene terephthalate from Vietnam. The European Commission said it may impose antidumping duties on the covered goods if it finds the EU PET industry is injured by dumped imports. The investigation will run for up to 14 months, though provisional duties may be imposed within eight months. The EU said it currently has antidumping duties on PET plastic from China and countervailing duties on the same goods from India.

The European Parliament this week approved a European Commission proposal to raise tariffs on certain agricultural products, including nitrogen-based fertilizers, from Russia and Belarus by 50% (see 2501290037). The new duty, if approved by EU foreign ministers, would apply to Russian and Belarusian agricultural goods that haven't yet been subject to "extra customs duties," Parliament said. Along with certain fertilizers, the tariffs would apply to sugar, vinegar, flour and animal feed.

The EU on May 21 opened an antidumping duty investigation on passenger car and light truck tires from China, the European Commission announced. The commission said the investigation will be concluded within 14 months and that provisional antidumping duties may be imposed within eight months if dumping and injury to the EU industry are found. The bloc currently has AD and countervailing duties in place on imports of tires for buses and trucks from China.

The U.K.’s Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation will begin accepting formal whistleblower disclosures June 26, the agency announced this week. OTSI will accept reports about a person or business “you think is committing a breach of trade sanctions that are implemented and enforced by” the agency. OTSI, a new agency launched in October, oversees and enforces trade restrictions for controlled goods and services moving or being provided outside the U.K. (see 2502140007, 2410100010, 2409130015 and 2502040042).

Poland seized 5 tons of Boeing commercial aircraft tires that were scheduled to illegally transit through Russia and Belarus in possible violation of EU sanctions, the country’s customs agency said this week, according to an unofficial translation. Customs authorities discovered the tires after inspecting a truck in Koroszczyn, near Poland’s border with Belarus, and found that the truck wasn’t transporting its declared car and bus tires. The sender of the tires was a company based in Spain, and the recipient was listed in Azerbaijan, the agency said. Poland is investigating the case for sanctions violations, it said, and also launched “tax criminal proceedings” for “customs fraud.”