USTR, Japanese and EU Trade Ministers Talk About WTO Reform in Paris
Discussions on how to address non-market-oriented policies such as forced technology transfers, industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises advanced among Europe, Japan and the U.S., according to a joint statement from Paris on May 23 from the European commissioner for trade, Japan's economy minister and the U.S. trade representative. The also talked about digital trade and e-commerce -- something many countries, including China, are discussing at the World Trade Organization -- and WTO reform.
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"The Ministers shared growing concerns about third parties’ developing State Enterprises into national champions, disrupting market-oriented trade, and directing those State Enterprises to dominate global markets," the statement said. "On industrial subsidies, Ministers welcomed the progress made in discussions on text-based work on increasing transparency, identifying harmful subsidies that merit stricter treatment and ensuring that appropriate benchmarks can be used. Ministers instructed their staff to continue efforts to finalize trilateral text-based work on these and other issues in order to engage with other key WTO Members with the aim of initiating negotiations on stronger disciplines on industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises."
The three regions said they are asking advanced economies in the WTO to stop claiming developing country status and undertake full commitments in ongoing and future WTO negotiations.
They will meet again at the G-20 in Japan in June to talk more about these issues.