23
Nov
2021
Watch
Multilateral negotiations in view of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, 30 November to 3 December 2021 (debate)
Mr President, the European Union is becoming a second-class trading power. Our trade deficit with China is increasing. Our economic freedoms are under pressure and we praise ourselves with unachievable climate goals. In the days when our continent was still an industrial world power, we determined the rules and the playing field. Together with our American allies, we told how countries in the world should do business. But where the West saw free trade as a win-win situation, China sees this as a weapon to bait us. The trade relationship with China has become asymmetrical and there is no longer a level playing field. We face the Chinese dream that transcends generations. This is reflected in the plans of the European Commission, which is going to the 12th Ministerial Conference on behalf of the EU. The Commission restricts our free trade with increasingly strict climate rules and climate taxes and wants to link the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a kind of cosmopolitan wish list, to it. These barriers have little impact on the climate, but they increase the costs for our businesses and are paid for by people at home. We call on the Commission, on the eve of MC12, not to embark on a climate Christmas tree of overregulation and bureaucratic obstacles, but to commit to the core task: Fair free trade.