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EUROPE ACCUSED OF PROTECTIONISM
Heather Stewart
guardian.co.uk
Monday 4 May 2009 17.03 BST
Tariffs of up to 60% on imports of Chinese candles by EU states is
cited as an anti-free trade measure by the World Bank
Europe has been accused of going back on world leaders' pledge to
avoid exacerbating the recession by throwing up new barriers against
international trade, just a month after the London G20 summit.
Brussels will slap tariffs of up to 60% on imports of cut-price Chinese
candles this month, in one of four measures ­identified by the World
Bank president, Robert ­Zoellick, on a blacklist of anti-free trade
decisions taken since the summit.
Haunted by the example of the 1930s, when leading powers became
locked in a tit-for-tat protectionist battle that is widely blamed
for precipitating the Great ­Depression, world leaders at the G20 in
London promised to "refrain from ­raising new barriers to investment
or to free trade in goods and services" and "rectify promptly any
such measures". But the World Bank believes Europe is among several
G20 members, ­including the US, Russia and India, which have taken
trade-restricting steps since then.
Britain's retailers are furious about the import tax on candles,
which will cost up to 60% of the value of the products. They say the
measure protects German and Polish candle-makers - and estimate that
the sanction, which will stay in place for five years, will cost
retailers up to £10m.
"What's extraordinary is that they sign these things at the G20, and
a week later they sign off on duties on candles," said the British
Retail Consortium's Brussels spokesman, Alasdair Gray.
The EU has also imposed temporary "anti-dumping" taxes, which are
meant to protect against cut-price subsidised imports, on three other
products: Chinese wire, iron and steel pipes, and aluminium foil from
Armenia, Brazil and China.
Gray said he feared the European commission's commitment to free
trade had been diluted since Lord Mandelson gave up his position as EU
trade commissioner to return to Westminster and join Gordon Brown's
cabinet, bringing a number of senior members of staff with him. "The
trade commission needs to hear both sides of the argument," he said.
However, Lutz Gullner, spokesman for Mandelson's successor, Baroness
Ashton, insisted that the anti-dumping measures were actually a
defence of free trade. He said: "Any allegation that we are turning
towards protectionism is without any grounds."
Gary Campkin, international spokesman for the CBI employers group,
said firms had become increasingly worried about creeping protectionism
around the world. "We hosted the G20 business summit and the message
from all the businesses was that we are concerned about protectionism,"
he said. A new international trade agreement has been stalled for
almost a year, since tal ks in the long-­running Doha round of
World Trade Organisation negotiations broke down acrimoniously last
summer. Leaders at the G20 expressed enthusiasm for resuscitating
the talks, but so far there has been little movement among trade
negotiators at the WTO's headquarters in Geneva.
Heather Stewart
guardian.co.uk
Monday 4 May 2009 17.03 BST
Tariffs of up to 60% on imports of Chinese candles by EU states is
cited as an anti-free trade measure by the World Bank
Europe has been accused of going back on world leaders' pledge to
avoid exacerbating the recession by throwing up new barriers against
international trade, just a month after the London G20 summit.
Brussels will slap tariffs of up to 60% on imports of cut-price Chinese
candles this month, in one of four measures ­identified by the World
Bank president, Robert ­Zoellick, on a blacklist of anti-free trade
decisions taken since the summit.
Haunted by the example of the 1930s, when leading powers became
locked in a tit-for-tat protectionist battle that is widely blamed
for precipitating the Great ­Depression, world leaders at the G20 in
London promised to "refrain from ­raising new barriers to investment
or to free trade in goods and services" and "rectify promptly any
such measures". But the World Bank believes Europe is among several
G20 members, ­including the US, Russia and India, which have taken
trade-restricting steps since then.
Britain's retailers are furious about the import tax on candles,
which will cost up to 60% of the value of the products. They say the
measure protects German and Polish candle-makers - and estimate that
the sanction, which will stay in place for five years, will cost
retailers up to £10m.
"What's extraordinary is that they sign these things at the G20, and
a week later they sign off on duties on candles," said the British
Retail Consortium's Brussels spokesman, Alasdair Gray.
The EU has also imposed temporary "anti-dumping" taxes, which are
meant to protect against cut-price subsidised imports, on three other
products: Chinese wire, iron and steel pipes, and aluminium foil from
Armenia, Brazil and China.
Gray said he feared the European commission's commitment to free
trade had been diluted since Lord Mandelson gave up his position as EU
trade commissioner to return to Westminster and join Gordon Brown's
cabinet, bringing a number of senior members of staff with him. "The
trade commission needs to hear both sides of the argument," he said.
However, Lutz Gullner, spokesman for Mandelson's successor, Baroness
Ashton, insisted that the anti-dumping measures were actually a
defence of free trade. He said: "Any allegation that we are turning
towards protectionism is without any grounds."
Gary Campkin, international spokesman for the CBI employers group,
said firms had become increasingly worried about creeping protectionism
around the world. "We hosted the G20 business summit and the message
from all the businesses was that we are concerned about protectionism,"
he said. A new international trade agreement has been stalled for
almost a year, since tal ks in the long-­running Doha round of
World Trade Organisation negotiations broke down acrimoniously last
summer. Leaders at the G20 expressed enthusiasm for resuscitating
the talks, but so far there has been little movement among trade
negotiators at the WTO's headquarters in Geneva.