ANNUAL REPORT ON EU TRADE AGREEMENTS
On 27 October, the European Commission released its first consolidated report on the implementation and enforcement of EU trade agreements, following the appointment of the Chief Trade Enforcement Officer (CTEO) on 24 July 2020. The report offers a snapshot of the evolution of the EU’s preferential trade in 2020, looking at 37 main trade agreements with 67 partners. It is accompanied by a staff working document with detailed information per partner country and agreement.
The report highlights that the 37 main EU trade agreements continued to make a major contribution to EU global trade in 2020, notwithstanding the consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic. EU preferential trade fell less sharply (-9.1%) than EU trade with its non-preferential partners (–11.1%) and trade with the rest of the world (–10.5%). While overall trade with the 67 EU preferential partners fell by 9.1 %, EU trade in industrial products with the 67 partners had a surplus of € 116.8 billion, a rise of € 2.1 billion compared to 2019. Agri-food trade with preferential partners grew by 2.2%, i.e. down from 8.7% in 2019, but twice as fast as overall agri-food trade (which grew by 1%).
Switzerland remained the EU’s top trading partner, with 21.5% of trade, followed by Turkey (11.3%), Japan (9.4%), Norway (7.8%) and South Korea (7.7%). Together, these five partners accounted for more than half of EU preferential trade (57.7%).
The report also provides that 2020 saw the continued appearance of new barriers among EU trading partners, including those with whom the EU has preferential trade agreements. In terms of the sectors most affected last year, 43% were found in the agriculture and fisheries sector, which is the one with the largest number of barriers overall. Barriers of a horizontal nature or covering a number of sectors made up for a quarter of all new barriers recorded, reflecting an increase in protectionist tendencies, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But in 2020, the Commission also removed 33 barriers in 22 partner countries and European companies could export an additional € 5.4 billion thanks to barriers eliminated between 2014 and 2019.
Source and more information: European Commission