Trade for All: European Commission presents new trade and investment strategy

EU News 282/2015

Brussels, 14 October 2015
IP/15/5806

The Commission is proposing a new trade and investment strategy for the European Union, entitled ‘Trade for All: Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy’.

The new approach builds on Europe's excellent trade track record. EU companies export nearly as much as China to the rest of the world and more than firms in the United States or any other country.

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The new strategy will make EU trade policy more responsible by basing it on three key principles:

Effectiveness: Making sure trade actually delivers on its promise of new economic opportunities. That means addressing the issues that affect today's economy, which involves services and digital trade. It also means providing the means and information necessary to ensure European small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), consumers and workers can take full advantage of – and adapt to – more open markets. This means, for instance, including effective provisions for SMEs in future trade agreements.

Transparency: Opening up negotiations to more public scrutiny by publishing key negotiating texts from all negotiations, as has been done in the TTIP negotiations. As of today, the Commission has already published some new texts (i.e. the Economic Partnership Agreements with East and West Africa) on its website.

Values: Safeguarding the European social and regulatory model at home. Using trade agreements and preference programmes as levers to promote, around the world, European values like sustainable development, human rights, fair and ethical trade and the fight against corruption. This means to include anti-corruption rules in the EU's trade agreements, and to see that our trading partners implement provisions on core labour standards, like the rights of workers to organise and the abolition of child labour. It also means broadening efforts to ensure responsible management of supply chains.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5806_en.htm?locale=en

Statement by Cecilia Malmström, Member of the EC in charge of Trade on the new Trade Strategy entitled 'Trade for everyone: towards a more responsible trade and investment policy'. Date: 14/10/2015 Reference: P-029280/00-04 Location: Brussels - EC/Berlaymont (C)EU, 2015 URL

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