Europe

Support for the multilateral trading system is “now as important as ever,” leaders from the world’s largest economies said this weekend at the conclusion of a virtual G20 summit.

For the Trump administration, World Trade Organization reform is not possible without an acknowledgment from all countries that membership requires market-oriented policies -- but this fundamental priority, like many U.S. reform proposals, faces a China-sized stumbling block as the organization limps into its 26th year.

The U.S. and the European Union should counter Chinese trade practices aimed at boosting its rise in high-tech areas by reforming the World Trade Organization, rekindling trans-Atlantic trade talks and coordinating on technology policy, according to a report issued Wednesday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republicans.

While major World Trade Organization members like the European Union, China, Canada and Japan are launching new environmental and sustainability initiatives in Geneva, the U.S. so far has not joined the efforts and this week criticized the European Green Deal at the WTO.

With less than two months to go before the United Kingdom formally breaks off from the European Union, several World Trade Organization members this week pressed London and Brussels for more answers on their prospective market-access plans.

President-elect Joe Biden may inherit from the Trump administration a nearly finished trade deal with the United Kingdom -- but what he decides to do with it largely will depend on Congress, analysts said on Thursday.

European Union officials this week began outlining the priorities they will seek to address with the incoming Biden administration, including trade and related issues, as they seek to move past the troubled trans-Atlantic relationship under President Trump.

European Union member states on Monday approved the imposition of tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. goods in World Trade Organization-approved retaliation for U.S. subsidies to Boeing as the two sides have failed to negotiate a resolution to the long-running disputes over aircraft subsidies.

If the EU imported U.S. LNG, rather than Russian gas, global emissions would fall approximately 72 million metric tons annually.