Free Republic

The European Union on Friday threatened to target US steel and textile exports in retaliation for Washington's restrictions on steel imports, unless the Bush administration agree to its demands for compensation. In an aggressive riposte to last week's White House decision to levy duties of up to 30 per cent on steel imports, the European Commission confirmed it was drawing up a list of US goods worth about $2bn which could face increased EU tariffs. The $2bn relates to the value of EU steel exports affected by the US tariffs. "The overall amount we'll be looking for is close to...

Freeing trade in goods could boost global incomes by $461 billion by 2015, says the World Bank. Trade liberalization has cost sub-Saharan Africa $272 billion over the past 20 years, retorts the advocacy group Christian Aid. The debate over opening world markets, it seems, only goes to prove that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Yet peering through the fog of numbers, even free trade advocates at the World Bank acknowledge that the gains to be made from a successful conclusion to the World Trade Organization's Doha round of liberalization talks would be relatively modest. If all tariffs, subsidies...

US told to play by trade rules EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Monday called on the US to "play by the rules" in international trade disputes, saying that European officials are running out of patience. "Thus far Europe has held off on retaliation (unlike the US, which imposed sanctions on hormones and bananas at lightning speed)," Lamy said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that appeared during the first day of a visit here. "But without concrete steps toward compliance, that is not a situation which can be maintained for much longer." Lamy wrote that meetings...