Handelsovereenkomsten over de hele wereld is onze periodieke update, die u een snel en gemakkelijk overzicht geeft van wat er is gebeurd in de vele onderhandelingen over handelsovereenkomsten wereldwijd.
Wij concentreren ons op de Europese Unie en het Verenigd Koninkrijk en houden een oogje op China en de Verenigde Staten.
De Europese Unie en India
Er wordt gezegd dat de Europese Unie en India de onderhandelingen over een vrijhandelsakkoord weer op de rails krijgen. Dat meldt Reuters:
Talks were put on hold in 2013 as both sides failed to bridge differences, such as over the extent of tariff reductions, patent protection, data security and the right of Indian professionals to work in Europe.
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The draft statement also sets the stage for an agreement for the EU and India to build joint infrastructure projects around the world in the transport, energy and digital sectors.
The deal would follow a similar accord between the EU and Japan in 2019, seeking an alternative to Chinese largesse that raised suspicion in the West and Tokyo.
De Europese Unie en Zwitserland
Momenteel is er (nog) geen handelsovereenkomst tussen de Europese Unie en Zwitserland. De economische relatie tussen de twee is opgebouwd uit tientallen bilaterale overeenkomsten. Sommige daarvan beginnen achterhaald te raken, en één is dat al. Bloomberg meldt:
Failure of the two sides to reach a new umbrella political treaty is turning into economic death by a thousand cuts for the Helvetian nation as it faces increasing barriers to the single market that surrounds it. A further deterioration in ties could hurt Switzerland’s electricity market, its industrial companies or its banking sector, which is keen to win more cross-border business with the EU.
De Europese Unie en Maleisië
De EU is actief geweest in de Zuid-Aziatische regio door handelsovereenkomsten te sluiten met Vietnam en Singapore. Andere landen in het gebied zijn nu ook weer geïnteresseerd in het openen van handelsbesprekingen. Een van hen is Maleisië, zo meldt DW.
Now, there also appears to be some progress over a free-trade pact with Malaysia, after two key industry groups last month announced that they will work together to lobby both Brussels and Kuala Lumpur to restart talks that broke down in 2012.
Talks over a free-trade agreement began in 2010 but stalled two years later, after seven rounds, at the request of Malaysia. A "stocktaking exercise" was carried out by both sides in 2016, but Kuala Lumpur decided against restarting trade talks.
De Europese Unie en China
De onderhandelingen over een investeringsovereenkomst tussen de Europese Unie en China zijn door de Europese Unie in de ijskast gezet. Dat meldt Politico:
The European Commission has temporarily put on hold efforts to ratify the investment agreement with China, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told Agence France-Presse Tuesday.
"We have ... for the moment suspended some efforts to raise political awareness on the part of the Commission, because it is clear that in the current situation, with the EU sanctions against China and the Chinese counter-sanctions, including against members of the European Parliament, the environment is not conducive to the ratification of the agreement," Dombrovskis told the French news agency.
China en het RCEP en TPP
Intussen heeft China de grootste handelsovereenkomst ter wereld ondertekend, het Regionaal Alomvattend Economisch Partnerschap (RCEP). RCEP bestaat nu uit 15 Aziatische landen.
De Informant rapporteert:
The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at a regional summit in Hanoi is another blow to the agreement promoted by former US President Barack Obama, from which Trump left in 2017. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) could strengthen China’s position as a partner country. Economic with Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea, which puts the second-largest economy in the world in a better position to dictate the rules of trade in the region.
Het land probeert ook toe te treden tot de Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership-leden (TPP). Dat meldt Bloomberg:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership was envisioned by the U.S. as an economic bloc to balance China’s growing power, with then-President Barack Obama saying in 2016 that the U.S., not China, should write the regional rules of trade. His successor Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2017, with Japan leading the revised and renamed pact to a successful conclusion the following year.
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Many of the CPTPP nations are heavily dependent on trade with China, but China’s increasingly poor image in some nations may make it harder to agree on entry. Concerns over labor practices, state-owned companies and its economic confrontation with America also loom as potential roadblocks for entry.
China en de Verenigde Staten
Er is ook nog steeds een handelsoorlog gaande tussen de Verenigde Staten en China. Er was een fase één overeenkomst, maar China heeft zich nog steeds niet aan zijn kant van de afspraak gehouden. CNBC meldt:
...the data showed China’s purchases of U.S. goods reached only 73% of the year-to-date target as of April, the report said.
Based on U.S. data, the level of progress falls to 60%, the institute said.
By category, agriculture came the closest to reaching the year-to-date target, at 79% based on U.S. data and 87% based on Chinese data.
The two-year agreement is set to end in December. Chinese purchases of U.S. goods fell more than 40% short in 2020, according to the institute.
Ander nieuws over handelsovereenkomsten
- Boris Johnson probeert een handelsovereenkomst met Australië te sluiten. Lees meer hierover in artikelen van Bloomberg en The Guardian.
- Het Verenigd Koninkrijk heeft een bod gedaan om toe te treden tot de Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), dat Japan heeft gesteund, zo meldt Reuters.
- Na de Europese Unie heeft nu ook het Verenigd Koninkrijk een handelsovereenkomst gesloten met Vietnam, wat hun kansen om toe te treden tot CPTPP vergroot, zoals CGTN meldt.
- Het Verenigd Koninkrijk is ook onderhandelingen begonnen met Saudi-Arabië en de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten, zo meldt Arabian Business. Volgens Arab News wil het Verenigd Koninkrijk handelsovereenkomsten sluiten met alle landen van de Samenwerkingsraad van de Golf.
