Explore Business Standard
EU Tariffs
The European Union on Tuesday agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions put in place over Moscow's war in Ukraine. The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia's actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences. Russia uses its shadow fleet of ships to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain. The EU has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total. The new measures are not obviously linked to Russian delays in agreeing to a ceasefire. Work on the measures began in the days after the last package was finalised three months ...
China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organisation that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it strongly opposes the measures and insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies. The European bloc announced last month it was imposing import duties of up to 35% on electric vehicles from China, alleging the Chinese exports were unfairly undercutting EU industry prices. The duties are set to remain in force for five years, unless an amicable deal can be struck. Electric vehicles have become a major flashpoint in a broader trade dispute over the influence of Chinese government subsidies on European markets and Beijing's burgeoning exports of green technology to the bloc. China alleged that the EU move amounted to an abuse of trade remedies that violates WTO rules, and amount
The Chinese government is taking aim at European farmers instead of German automakers by launching an investigation into European Union pork imports, just days after the EU said it plans to impose provisional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. The Commerce Ministry didn't mention the EV tariffs when it announced Monday that it is opening an anti-dumping investigation into pork from Europe, but the move is widely seen as a response to the EU move on electric cars. It also gives China a bargaining chip in any trade negotiations. China could have slapped a 25% duty on imports of gasoline-powered vehicles with large engines in the name of combating climate change, a step that would would have hit Mercedes and BMW hard. In choosing not to do so, at least for now, the government may be acknowledging the public opposition of the German auto industry to the EU tariffs, as well as its sizeable production in China. The Chinese market is a major one for German automakers, and the head of
India has the option to propose the imposition of retaliatory customs duties under the WTO norms on goods imported of a certain value from the EU, as the two sides have failed to reach a consensus on the European Union's safeguard measures on some steel products, an official has said. The EU has extended safeguard duties on certain steel imports, scheduled to expire this month, by another two years till 2026. This is the second extension of the safeguards that take the form of the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ), first imposed in 2018. India is one of the countries affected by this measure as it has a substantial interest in steel exports to the EU. In 2023-24, India's iron and steel and their products exports to the EU increased to USD 6.64 billion from USD 6.1 billion in 2022-23. India, along with other countries, has earlier raised concerns at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the European Union's (EU) move to extend safeguard duty on the import of certain steel products till ...