December 30, 2020 — There are very different and contradictory ambitions motivating the key players in the current World Trade Organization negotiations on a deal that would end harmful fisheries subsidies.
Those differences will have to be squared before any deal emerges out of the talks, which have been held over more than 20 years, and which are set to resume on 18 January, 2021.
December 23, 2020 — European Union and British negotiators closed in on a trade deal Wednesday with only a disagreement over fishing remaining, raising hopes a chaotic economic break between the two sides on New Year’s Day could be averted even as soon as before midnight, officials said.
After resolving a few remaining fair competition issues, negotiators were dealing with EU fisheries rights in U.K. waters as they worked to secure a deal for a post-Brexit relationship after nine months of talks.
Two EU sources said the negotiations were in a final phase now, with one saying: “I expect to see some white smoke tonight.” The official asked not to be identified because the talks were still ongoing.
Customs checks and some other barriers will be imposed under whatever circumstances on Jan. 1, but a trade deal would avert the imposition of tariffs and duties that could cost both sides hundreds of thousands of jobs. Britain withdrew from the EU on Jan. 31, and an economic transition period expires on Dec. 31.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has always insisted the U.K. would “prosper mightily” even if no deal were reached and the U.K. had to trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms.
December 16, 2020 — A EUR 6.1 billion (USD 7.4 billion) budget of the next European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) for 2021 to 2027 is drawing criticism from NGOs and a WTO delegate, who say it represents a harmful subsidy encouraging unsustainable fishing.
The package was agreed to in principle last week in Brussels by the European Union’s parliament, and the European Council, composed of member-state governments.
December 14, 2020 — Formal World Trade Organization negotiations on ending harmful subsidies to fisheries will recommence in the week beginning 18 January.
Talks hit another impasse earlier this month, with gaps in a text circulated at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, proving too great to overcome.
December 9, 2020 — In the halcyon days of 2015, leaders gathered at the United Nations pledged “bold and transformative steps” to put the planet on a more sustainable path, tasking the World Trade Organization with ending excessive and illegal fishing.
Five years and a global pandemic later, that dream has been deferred yet again.
The Geneva-based trade body, facing a deadline at the end of 2020, looks to come up empty-handed in its quest to preserve the world’s dwindling fish stocks.
A global fisheries deal fell victim to issues ranging from the logistical problems of negotiating amid travel restrictions to a growing distrust among WTO members. It’s a frustrating result not just for protectors of marine life but for defenders of the WTO, denying the organization a win just when its deal-making abilities came under fire.
December 2, 2020 — A final round of negotiations at the World Trade Organization on cutting fisheries subsidies opened on Tuesday with some delegates seeing little hope for a deal by a 2020 deadline despite intensifying negotiations.
World leaders committed in 2015 to a series of U.N. targets and one of them mandates the Geneva-based trade watchdog to strike a deal on ending government subsidies worth billions of dollars that contribute to over-fishing.
However, three delegates involved in the closed-door talks said they were not expecting a deal by the end of the year, and one trade source said that discussions on a key area were effectively deadlocked.
“I would be surprised if there is a deal,” said a delegate.
Switzerland’s ambassador Didier Chambovey, who is facilitating talks, told members last week that positions on potential exemptions for developing countries were “entrenched”.
India is one of several countries seeking significant carve-outs, sources say.
December 1, 2020 — With the World Trade Organization currently hosting last-ditch talks on ending harmful fisheries subsidies, there is increased worry among observers that a deal may not get done.
Delegations are working to close the gaps in a text circulated at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, according to Annabelle Bladon, a researcher on the blue economy at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
November 11, 2020 — France’s trade minister hopes that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden acts soon to calm trade tensions fueled by Donald Trump, which have led to escalating trans-Atlantic tariffs hitting billions of dollars worth of wine, planes and other goods.
In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, French Trade Minister Franck Riester accused the U.S. under Trump of threatening global commerce by blocking the appointment of the World Trade Organization’s next director, and urged Biden to break the logjam.
“I hope we are going to be able to rebuild the trans-Atlantic relationship with the Biden administration,” Riester said. He said France is “optimistic” about the Biden presidency, and welcomed Biden’s pledges to re-join the 2015 Paris climate accord and other multilateral organizations that Trump snubbed.
With the U.S. and European economies hammered by the pandemic, Riester said, “We are mobilized for dialogue at all levels … for de-escalation, to ensure that we are no longer in this trade tension.”
November 10, 2020 — The European Union has imposed countermeasures against many exports from the United States that it was awarded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in lieu of illegal U.S. subsidies granted to aircraft-maker Boeing.
With the countermeasures agreed by E.U. member-states, the European Commission’s regulation increasing tariffs on U.S. exports into the E.U. worth USD 4 billion (EUR 3.4 billion) will be published in the Official Journal of the E.U.
November 9, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
Today’s news that the European Union will place tariffs on about $20 million worth of annual United States seafood exports to the EU is disappointing. The seafood communities in the U.S. and EU have long enjoyed a trade relationship that has created tens of thousands of jobs and, most recently, been poised to expand.
It makes no sense that a World Trade Organization dispute about planes that fly 40,000 feet above where fish swim should include seafood. Now, given missteps by both sides, American workers and families will suffer.
The new tariffs come at a time when the seafood industry in both the U.S. and EU are focused on rebuilding and reopening. Such trade barriers distract from this important economic recovery.