27 Countries, Including US, Challenge EU Plans to Lower TRQs After Brexit
The U.S., China, Brazil, Australia, Canada and others complained that the European Union's proposal to adjust its tariff rate quotas on agricultural and industrial goods after Brexit will reduce market access for their exporters. They talked about the problem at a World Trade Organization Council for Trade in Goods meeting Nov. 12, according to a Geneva trade official. The EU proposal affects 196 individual concessions covering more than 365 tariff lines, members asserted in a joint communication, which is not public.
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The U.S. said it couldn't accept a proposal that makes its exporters worse off, and Australia said the approach "removes the flexibility for exporters who had previously accessed EU and UK markets seamlessly and that the apportioned tariff rate quotas were now too small to be commercially viable." If the EU is going to revise its WTO commitments, the countries say, it has to negotiate with members for compensation, which it has not done. The EU said it would engage in negotiations as soon as possible, and has already received 25 claims.