EU Reports on New Trade Barriers Hindering European Exports

The European Union released a report detailing what it says are “45 new trade barriers” outside the EU in 2018 that damaged EU businesses, costing them “billions of Euros every year,” the EU said in a June 17 press release. The EU said the report “confirms” the rise of trade barriers encountered by European companies in foreign markets, which is now at 425 barriers in 59 countries.

China and Russia lead the list of countries with trade barriers, composing 37 and 34 of the “problematic trade measures,” respectively, the press release said. The EU also pointed to measures introduced by China, the U.S. and India as having the “most impact” on EU exports, saying they affect 80 percent of all EU exports affected by new measures and “focus predominantly on steel, aluminum and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors.”

The EU said 123 of the 425 barriers have been “eliminated” since Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom took office in 2014. "In the complex context we have today with a growing number of trade tensions and protectionist measures, the EU must keep defending the interests of its companies in the global markets,” Malmstrom said in a statement.