Third AEGIS Europe Report on the EU's Trade Defence Instruments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The AEGIS Europe Alliance represents more than 20 EU manufacturing sectors injured by unfair trade practices. The Alliance therefore has an interest in ensuring that the trade defence instruments (TDI) effectively counter the distortions caused by the dumping, and/or the subsidisation, of imports.
Since the COVID 19 pandemic and Russia’s illegal invasion into Ukraine, EU industries have been facing increasing competition from unfairly traded imports. This has to stop. At a speech at the Institute for Advanced Study in Washington DC on 9 April 2024 Commission Vice President Vestager, after listing success and failures in the implementation of EU trade defence policy, stated:
As you can hear, we’re making full use of the tools that we have. But I can’t help feeling that this is also playing whack-a-mole. We need more than a case-by-case approach. We need a systematic approach. And we need it before it is too late. We can’t afford to see what happened on solar panels, happening again on Electric vehicles, wind or essential chips.
The EU can have a new ‘systemic’ approach. This will require changes to EU law but within the scope of existing WTO law.
And to prevent more solar panels disasters, the EU can use the existing trade defence instruments to protect EU industries in a more robust manner.
This third AEGIS EUROPE Report on the functioning of the EU’s trade defence instruments sets out:
How DG TRADE can apply existing EU regulations to make them more effective;
Changes to EU law that do not require changes in WTO law.
AEGIS Europe considers that the Commission has not developed the full potential of existing TDI law to efficiently defend the EU industry against unfair trade.
AEGIS Europe asks for an immediate change in the DG TRADE’s application of the current TDI rules in order to respond to the extraordinary difficult market conditions, notably in the light of (i) global overcapacities, (ii) tariffs imposed by the US and Canada on Chinese imports resulting in the redirection of exports and domino effect to the detriment of EU industries and (iii) the decrease of the Chinese consumption boosting the need of Chinese exporting producers to dump on global markets.
AEGIS Europe asks for an immediate review of the functioning of the trade defence instruments by the Parliament and the Council.
This is the third AEGIS Europe Report reviewing the functioning of the European Union Trade Defence Instruments (TDI). The first and second Reports, examining in detail the functioning of the EU’s trade defence instruments are available on the AEGIS Europe website.
Read the full report here.