German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday called for a resumption of long-stalled efforts to negotiate a global free-trade accord, saying that a proliferation of bilateral trade deals could lead to varying standards and rules.
“The best thing would be an agreement under the auspices of the World Trade Organization [WTO],” Gabriel told a business conference in Hong Kong.
“We should restart discussions in the WTO even as we are negotiating comprehensive bilateral agreements,” he said, before heading back to Germany.
In the absence of a global trade agreement, Gabriel said it is important that bilateral trade deals also include social, climate and consumer standards, beyond simply reducing tariffs.
Gabriel welcomed an offer made by China during his visit to begin intensive discussions with Germany and the EU about its steel exports to Europe.
“Of course we will accept the Chinese offer and negotiate at all levels to reach a solution,” he told the Funke media group. “But it’s too soon to talk about an ‘all-clear’ signal, since this is a really big dispute. We must protect our steelworkers from unfair competition and subsidized steel exports from China that could crowd out the competitive and ecologically sound European steel industry.”
The EU last month imposed provisional import duties on two types of Chinese steel, the latest in a series of trade defenses set up to curb subsidized steel exports that EU officials say have resulted in job losses and plant closures.
Gabriel said resistance to free-trade agreements, such as the one signed last week by the EU and Canada, was largely due to insufficient communication by governments about the benefits of such accords and the failure to include people and societal groups.
Activists in the Netherlands have gathered about two-thirds of the signatures needed to lay the groundwork for a referendum on the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which they say overly favors the interests of multinational companies.
A referendum defeat would throw up a further obstacle to the ratification of the agreement, which was almost scuttled last month by a regional assembly in neighboring Belgium.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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