Trade Barriers Report: EU continues to open up markets outside Europe in midst of rising protectionism
Thanks to the European Union's successful intervention, European companies generated €8 billion in additional exports in 2019. The high number of new restrictions that hinder EU exports shows however that protectionism has become deeply ingrained in global trade. These are some of the findings of the Commission's annual Trade and Investment Barriers Report published today.
Coordinated efforts by the Commission, Member States and EU business organisations in the framework of the Market Access Partnership, allowed European companies to regain in 2019 important export markets. This benefited among others EU farmers and food producers, for instance:
• Beef exporters from France, Ireland and The Netherlands regained access to China; producers from Ireland and Croatia recovered access to Japan and Dutch pork producers can now export also to Mexico;
• Polish producers of baby milk powder can now export again to Egypt;
• Belgian pear producers regained access to the Mexican market.
However, EU companies face also a multiplication of new unlawful barriers in sectors of strategic importance for the EU, notably in information and communication technology, electronics, auto and other high-tech industries. The total number of existing trade barriers around the word amounts to 438, out of which 43 were introduced last year by 22 different countries. The highest number of trade restrictions concern access to the Chinese and Russian markets (respectively 38 and 31 measures). China also imposed the highest number of new restrictions in 2019, followed by South Mediterranean and Middle East countries.