Global services trade regulations showed signs of liberalisation in 2021, slowing the steady build-up of trade barriers identified in previous years, according to a new OECD report. OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Policy trends up to 2022 shows that liberalisation outpaced new restrictions during the past year, as the erection of new barriers to services trade slowed across almost all major sectors covered. The average cumulative increase in barriers across sectors covered by the Index (STRI) was six times lower in 2021...

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Today, the EU is requesting consultations with Russia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning export restrictions placed by Russia on wood products. The export restrictions consist of significantly increased export duties on certain wood products and a drastic reduction in the number of border crossing points through which exports of wood products can take place. The Russian restrictions are highly detrimental to the EU wood processing industry, which relies on exports from Russia, and create significant uncertainty on the...

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A group of 67 World Trade Organization (WTO) members, including the EU, have today concluded negotiations on a landmark agreement to cut red tape in services trade. The so-called Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation will simplify unnecessarily complicated regulations and ease procedural hurdles faced by SMEs in particular. This agreement will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than USD 150 billion every year. This is the first WTO deliverable in the area of trade in...

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European Commission President von der Leyen and United States President Biden agreed today to start discussions on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium. This marks a new milestone in the transatlantic relationship, and in EU-US efforts to achieve the decarbonisation of the global steel and aluminium industries in the fight against climate change. The two Presidents also agreed to pause the bilateral World Trade Organization disputes on steel and aluminium. This builds on our recent successes in...

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What is the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium? The arrangement is intended to facilitate the decarbonising of the steel and aluminium industries, as well as addressing the issue of overcapacity in these industries caused by non-market practices in some economies. The EU and US have agreed to start discussions on this Arrangement as soon as possible, and conclude them within two years. We want to make this Arrangement open to all like-minded economies. How will the Arrangement help achieve decarbonisation? Each...

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The United States and the EU have today taken joint steps to re-establish historical transatlantic trade flows in steel and aluminium and to strengthen their partnership and address shared challenges in the steel and aluminium sector. As a part of that partnership, they intend to negotiate for the first time, a global arrangement to address carbon intensity and global overcapacity. The European Union and the United States have a shared commitment to joint action and deepened cooperation in these sectors...

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Section 1.  Pittsburgh Statement The EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) met for the first time in Pittsburgh on 29 September 2021. It was co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The European Union and the United States reaffirm the TTC's objectives to: coordinate approaches to key global technology, economic, and trade...

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