The Council of the European Union on June 5 extended the suspension of EU safeguard measures on Ukrainian iron and steel to further support Ukraine's economy during its war with Russia. The extension takes effect June 6 and runs for three years.
The EU is aiming to build on its export controls, investment screening measures and other economic security tools over advanced technologies, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said this week.
The U.S., the U.K. and other allies need to form a tighter technology partnership as opposed to putting in place new restrictions on those technologies, said Peter Mandelson, U.K. ambassador to the U.S.
The EU is preparing another package of Russia sanctions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on LinkedIn, including a measure that could lower the price cap on Russian oil from its current level of $60. The sanctions would specifically target "Russia's energy revenues, including Nord Stream infrastructure, Russia's banking sector" and would involve "lowering the crude oil price cap," the commission said.
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.