BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson announced
Thursday he will launch a review of trade ties with China this year, saying
Europe needs a new strategy to handle the EU's "biggest" trade policy challenge
in the years ahead.
"Europe must get China right ¡ª as a threat, an opportunity and prospective
partner," Mandelson said in a speech delivered in the northeastern Swiss town of
Ermatingen, according to the draft provided by his office.
European Union Trade
Commissioner Peter Mandelson addresses a news conference at the European
Commission headquarters in Brussels April 26, 2006.
[Reuters] |
Mandelson said in the wake of increasing trade spats with Beijing over issues
such as textiles, shoes and piracy, "we must examine ... our political and
economic ties with China."
He called China "the biggest single challenge of globalization in the trade
field" and pledged to start a review of EU trade ties with Beijing after
September.
Mandelson called for the European bloc's trade policy to be realigned in
years ahead to take advantage of growing economies across Asia and in Brazil.
"In the past we were running to catch up with the higher productivity of the
United States. Now we need to run with one eye on those out in front and the
other watching new countries ¡ª China, India, Brazil ¡ª coming up behind," said
Mandelson.
"I will be using the second half of this year to define a new,
forward-looking agenda that helps to boost our competitive performance at home
and abroad, an agenda that focuses on hard, economic priorities and adapts our
thinking to the realities and challenges of globalization."
Mandelson cited statistics showing that China alone has seen a 17 percent
annual growth rate in trade between 1994-2004, "and now trades as much as the EU
did in 1994."
He said India and China's share of manufactured goods on the world market
could account for 50 percent by 2020.
Mandelson said the EU review would focus specifically on market access,
including reduction of tariffs, and non-tariff barriers.
The only way to answer the new competitors, he said, was for the 25-nation
bloc to push ahead with more market reforms to become more competitive. The
European Commission must "show leadership to push for change, even if it is
painful."
The EU head office's call for the 25 EU governments to open up their services
markets, however, has been met with stiff resistance in many countries,
including France, which has tried to bolster French companies in the wake of
takeover bids from other European competitors in the energy sector.
Mandelson, the EU's top trade negotiator at the world trade talks, reiterated
that getting a deal this year in the so-called Doha round was his "paramount
priority."