00:00Well, Paul, we heard from a senior EU official speaking to the press on Tuesday that said that while
00:07investigations have been ongoing, really there hasn't been agreement on any single point.
00:12This was the deadline this week for these tariffs to come effect after
00:17European member states at the start of this month, on October 4th,
00:21put to a vote whether to put in these tariffs. The voting
00:26was in favour, 10 member states voting in favour,
00:3012 abstained, 5 against, which does show, however, that while these tariffs have come into effect, it remains a
00:36politically divisive issue. We've heard
00:39from a spokesperson for Germany's
00:43economy ministry
00:44stating essentially that they stand for open markets. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that he fears this could lead to an
00:51economic cold war. However, the playing field
00:55officials tell me that these tariffs get a little closer to achieving that. Of course, that's something that
01:02China has rejected. China's
01:04Chamber of Commerce to the EU saying that this is protectionist and arbitrary.
01:11And so, Will, what happens next and is the European Union open to a new round of negotiations with China to try to resolve this?
01:22Well, we've had eight rounds of official technical talks and the message from both the Chinese
01:30Commerce Ministry as well as the
01:32trade delegation here in Brussels and the European Commission is that they both sides saying that they hope to find a mutually
01:40beneficial solution and that both sides are very much open to
01:45negotiations and for a next round of talks
01:48that could be set to take place in Beijing in the future.
01:52However, we heard from the Trade Commissioner Commissioner Dombrowskis in recent days saying that significant gaps
02:00remain in these discussions. The EU has proposed really a dual track
02:06discussions directly with Beijing and with the
02:10Commerce Ministry as well as
02:12negotiations under price undertakings with individual companies. That though has been rejected by Beijing saying that that would undercut
02:20those formal negotiations.
02:22So, there are certainly hopes that trade talks could continue. Both sides saying they want a speedy and
02:30amicable resolution, but of course plenty of divisions still need to be overcome.
Comments