The World Trade Organization released the agenda for the June 5 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body. The meeting is held to exclusively consider Canada's request for a dispute panel in its case against Chinese import duties on certain agricultural and fishery products from Canada.
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 Democratic leaders of two key House committees said this week they’re “deeply concerned” about the Bureau of Industry and Security potentially pivoting away from traditional export control dialogues with allies and asked BIS to respond to oversight questions before the end of next week.
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 World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body on May 23 heard China's first request to establish a dispute panel on Canada's surtax on Chinese products, including electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products, the WTO said. Canada said it's not ready to accept the panel at this time, punting the issue to the next DSB meeting, which is scheduled for June 23.
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.
A bill that would sanction Russia and its supporters if Moscow rejects peace talks with Ukraine had gained the support of about 80 senators, or four-fifths of the Senate, as of May 22.
Cecilia Malmstrom, a former top European Commission trade official, said the EU is "painfully aware that the transatlantic relationship as we used to know it has been severely damaged."
The U.S. is continuing to push Malaysia to strengthen its guardrails around sensitive American technologies at risk of being diverted to China, a top Malaysian trade official said this week. He also acknowledged that Malaysia and other Asian countries could soon be pressured to choose between either partnering economically with Washington or Beijing.
China this week said it’s temporarily reversing April announcements that added dozens of U.S. companies to the country’s unreliable entity list, which blocked those firms from participating in import and export activities in China, and its export control list, which blocked them from receiving certain dual-use items (see 2504090017 and 2504040024). Beijing will suspend those restrictions for 90 days from May 14, the Ministry of Commerce said, according to unofficial translations.