omg i just wrote a paper on the wto for my international econ class and it’s wild how outdated some of their processes are.. like they haven’t had a major update since the 90s 😬.
Amtoj on
I think this is exciting news. We’re a bloc of over a billion people now demanding equal market access to China. If we can’t have them or the US play fair, the Plan B in the last paragraph of this article is getting more middle powers into the group to do our own thing with modernized regulations and shared standards. Countries as far as Uruguay and the UAE are already on track to join the CPTPP, so the reach of this is incredibly global.
But regarding Sefcovic’s comments on attaching low-tariff access to its market in exchange for the openness of the Chinese market; he unfortunately didn’t really address some finer points that were likely touched upon in the meeting, in that China might give market access and a supply of rare earths in exchange for high-tech exports from the EU, in particular EUV equipment. It’s not directly stated in the [formal readout from the MOFCOM](https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/bldhd/art/2026/art_28b26ba6bcab46f9829cac0d60b69c81.html) for the Wang-Sefcovic meeting, but it is definitely implied:
>China is willing to actively expand imports from Europe, and hopes that Europe will relax export controls on high-tech products and not politicize economic and trade issues.
While on the EU side:
>Šefčovič stressed the need for swift processing of licenses for EU companies, critical for predictability & stability.
So very little progress will be made between the EU and China unless the EU addresses these points, or if China is willing to back down from this.
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omg i just wrote a paper on the wto for my international econ class and it’s wild how outdated some of their processes are.. like they haven’t had a major update since the 90s 😬.
I think this is exciting news. We’re a bloc of over a billion people now demanding equal market access to China. If we can’t have them or the US play fair, the Plan B in the last paragraph of this article is getting more middle powers into the group to do our own thing with modernized regulations and shared standards. Countries as far as Uruguay and the UAE are already on track to join the CPTPP, so the reach of this is incredibly global.
Funny, I also just posted a [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/1s672v1/readouts_from_both_the_ministry_of_commerce_of/) that touches on this topic, the mods just need to approve it.
But regarding Sefcovic’s comments on attaching low-tariff access to its market in exchange for the openness of the Chinese market; he unfortunately didn’t really address some finer points that were likely touched upon in the meeting, in that China might give market access and a supply of rare earths in exchange for high-tech exports from the EU, in particular EUV equipment. It’s not directly stated in the [formal readout from the MOFCOM](https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/bldhd/art/2026/art_28b26ba6bcab46f9829cac0d60b69c81.html) for the Wang-Sefcovic meeting, but it is definitely implied:
>China is willing to actively expand imports from Europe, and hopes that Europe will relax export controls on high-tech products and not politicize economic and trade issues.
While on the EU side:
>Šefčovič stressed the need for swift processing of licenses for EU companies, critical for predictability & stability.
So very little progress will be made between the EU and China unless the EU addresses these points, or if China is willing to back down from this.