Brussels supports and reinforces US trade sanctions

The European Commission presented a proposal to strengthen the ability of the European Union to impose sanctions on countries that carry out illegal business practices and at the same time block the system for resolving disputes in the World Trade Organization, as happened this week with the Appellate body for the obstacles of the United States to the renewal of judges.

“While we strive to reform the WTO and restore the proper functioning of this organization’s system, we cannot afford to remain defenseless in cases where it is not possible to obtain a solution to the WTO framework,” said the Commissioner of Commerce Phil Hogan at a press conference in Brussels.

Hogan stressed that changes in the EU rules on international trade will allow European companies, workers and consumers to have a better defense when third countries do not respect the rules.

The current regulation allows the European Union to adopt sanctioning such as the imposition of tariffs or restrictions on access to public tenders to countries that violate trade agreements, but only after the WTO resolves in its favor after exhausting its procedures, which It includes the appeal body that has been suspended.

The fear of the Europeans is that countries that carry out unfair practices take advantage of this blockade to avoid accountability and avoid a binding WTO decision by appealing it. With the change, the EU may impose sanctions even if the WTO decision is suspended because that last phase of the process in the international organization has not been resolved.

For this change to be effective, it is first necessary that both the Council and the European Parliament give their formal approval to the project, and so Brussels expects that the mechanism will not be operational until mid-2020.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa