Europe

The U.S. and other World Trade Organization members this week blasted the European Union and the United Kingdom over proposed changes to their WTO schedules of concessions following Brexit, arguing that they would lead to diminished market access.

More than a dozen World Trade Organization members, including the U.S., last week criticized the European Union in Geneva for lowering some of its maximum residue levels for a variety of pesticides used largely for producing citrus fruits and bananas.

NEW YORK -- Alan Wolff, the World Trade Organization's deputy director-general, this week said a shutdown of Geneva’s appeals system, expected next month, was unlikely to spark “pure chaos,” as some have feared.

Services provide the best opportunity for an ambitious agreement between the U.S. and UK, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Marjorie Chorlins.

A final Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development framework addressing the tax challenges of the digital economy will include language mandating that countries lift any unilateral digital services tax provisions, a business group representative said on Wednesday.

Citing negotiations with foreign auto companies, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Sunday said he hopes those talks will “bear enough fruit” so the U.S. does not have to put potential Section 232 measures “fully into effect.”

The U.S. and rest of the world will not be able to move forward with digital trade without privacy standards, analysts argued on Thursday, advocating for international agreements.

In a series of Generalized System of Preferences moves, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday said it planned to suspend duty-free treatment for Thailand, restore some benefits for Ukraine and kick off reviews of South Africa and Azerbaijan.

The U.S. and UK will have to make tradeoffs in balancing peace at the Irish border and trade interests, witnesses at a House hearing said Tuesday.