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European Union

EU Trade Chief Urges China to Make Concessions at WTO Talks

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's four-day visit to China, which began yesterday, focused on pressing Beijing to make greater concessions in the upcoming World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations. Mandelson emphasized China's leadership role in trade and encouraged the country to show its commitment to further liberalization. He also urged China to introduce controls over textile exports, drop the yuan peg to the US dollar, and strengthen intellectual property rights protection.

Key Takeaways:

  • Mandelson urged China to contribute more to the Doha round of negotiations, stating that the next round of global trade talks would not succeed unless developing countries were assured that Beijing would not take the lion's share of the benefits.
  • He called on China to liberalize its rigid dollar-peg exchange system, suggesting that the yuan could be linked to a broader set of currencies to reflect its trading patterns.
  • Mandelson emphasized the importance of strengthening intellectual property rights protection in China, despite the country's progress in this area.
  • He also pressed China to introduce controls over textile exports now that quotas had been removed.
  • The EU is preparing to lift an embargo on arms sales to mainland China, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, and is discussing market economy status with Chinese leaders.
  • The Doha round of trade talks aims to eliminate industrial tariffs by 2015, eliminate agricultural export subsidies, cap agricultural tariffs at 25 percent, and dramatically reduce crop subsidies.

Statistics:

  • The Doha round of trade talks envisions bold multilateral liberalization proposals, which started in 2001.
  • China's textile exports have been unrestricted since quotas were removed.
  • The EU imposed an embargo on arms sales to mainland China after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
  • The next round of global trade talks is scheduled to take place in December at the ministerial conference in Hong Kong.

Sources:

  • "Europe's chief trade official in China call for greater openness" by Cary Huang, The Standard ( Hong Kong)
  • European Commission (no date)
  • World Trade Organisation (no date)

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