Activities of Emma McCLARKIN related to 2018/2084(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on WTO: the way forward PDF (347 KB) DOC (75 KB)
Amendments (23)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Stresses that trade liberalization and global competition act over the long run as an engine for economic growth; stresses equally that progressive integration of developing countries into global value chains has significantly contributed to its wealth creation and poverty reduction;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
– having regard to the concept paper of the European Commission on WTO modernisation of 18 September 2018,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas since its creation, the WTO has played a pivotal role in strengthening multilateralism, promoting an inclusive world economic order and fostering an open, rule-based and non- discriminatory multilateral trading system; whereas the WTO is built upon a system of rights and obligations, which obligates members to open their own markets and not to discriminate;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls, however, that trade liberalisation is not positive, per se,can have negative effects in terms of reducing poverty and inequalities, and that it can even have negative effects on sustainable development in general if it is not properly regulatedbased on global rules; underlines, in this context, the potential of the WTO as an efficient rules-based multilateral negotiating forum which provides a platform for open discussion on global trade-related issues and is set to contain trade disputes and effectively deal with unfair competition; insists that the EU should continue to promote the democratisationreform of the WTO;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Appellate Body of the WTOis the "jewel in the crown" of the WTO owing to the binding character of decisions and its existence as an independent and impartial appellate review; where the Appellate Body is approaching the minimum number of judges it needs to function, as the United States is blocking the appointment of new members; whereas this deadlock could lead to the collapse of a system that is essential to managing disputes among the world’s most powerful trading nationall WTO members;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that it is now a matter of urgency to proceed to the modernisation of the WTO in the light of the latest developments, and to fundamentally review several aspects of the functioning of the WTO with a view to increasing both its effectiveness and its legitimacy; considers, in this perspective, that other WTO members, in particular our major trading partners, should be involved in the debate from the beginninguch as the United States, Japan, China, Canada, Brazil and India, should be involved in the debate from the beginning; is encouraged by the initial statements from the EU-China Summit on the reform of the WTO;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes in this regard the mandate given by the European Council to the Commission on 28-29 June 2018, and supports the approach outlined in the conclusions; welcomes the Commission’s concept paper on WTO modernisation that sets out three goals: to strengthen the WTO Secretariat in Geneva to help monitor compliance with WTO rules and better support negotiations, restore the negotiation capacity of the WTO as a round of negotiations has not been concluded since the organisation was founded in 1995 and reform the dispute settlement system’s Appellate Body; welcomes the proposals by Canada that seeks to improve the effectiveness of transparency and notifications, modernise trade rules to address new challenges and address the United States’ criticisms of the Appellate Body;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for a trade agenda based on fair trade for the benefit of allmultilateral rules-based system, which puts development and social, environmental and human rights at the centre of the process and has a special focus on the needs of low-income developing countries and least-developed countries;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Expresses its utmost concern over the fact that several posts on the Appellate Body remain vacant, severely constraining the work of this crucial body by threatening to undermine the current and proper functioning of the dispute settlement process, and calls firmly on the United States to engage with the Commission's proposals to resolve this situation in a way that allows for the expeditious replenishment of vacant Appellate Body seats; invites the Commission to come forward with concretevacant Appellate Body seats to be filled expeditiously; welcomes the Commission's proposals on how to resolve the deadlock by addressing some of the concerns that have been raised, for example through transitional rules for outgoing members or changes to the length of terms on the Appellate Body or to the maximum time allowed before the publication of a report; notes that the United States’ concerns regarding the Appellate Body extend beyond procedural changes and entail significant reforms to the rulings of the body’s judges; recalls that in cases brought to the Appellate Body to address China’s unfair trade barriers have often made at least some progress towards greater market access as China has a high rate of compliance, according to the Appellate Body’s own reports; supports the Commission’s decision to join the United States’ action against China following a “Section 301” investigation of China’s trade practices relating to intellectual property (IP), technology transfer and innovation;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Views the decision of the United States to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium products on 31 May 2018 on grounds of “national security” under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 is unjustified, do not address the challenge posed by excess steel in global markets and does not comply with WTO rules; strongly encourages the Commission to work with the United States to address trade disagreements and remove barriers to trade within the WTO’s rule-based dispute settlement framework;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Shares the view that, as a way to address the root causes of the current crisis, it is necessary for the WTO to develop new rules to address current gaps in the rulebook in order to level the playing as regards market-distorting subsidies and state-owned enterprises, IP protection, technology transfers, investment market access and regulatory barriers to services and investment; believes that in order to remain relevant, the WTO also needs to address new challenges in areas such as: e- commerce; digital trade; emerging technologies; global value chains; public procurement; domestic regulation for services; micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); and greater compatibility between trade, labour and environmental agendas; welcomes, in this regard, the joint statements that were adopted in Buenos Aires on e-commerce, domestic regulation, investment facilitation and women’s economic empowerment, as well as the work that has been done on these issues since then;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Insists that the WTO should clearly recognise the primordial role that trade can plays in contributing to the achievement of the SDGs and the fight against climate change, using the Paris Agreement commitments as a minimum benchmark;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Strongly welcomes the ratification by two thirds of the WTO membership of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in February 2017; notes that this is the first WTO agreement since the late 1990s and offers significant potential to signatory countries, in particular developing countries; views the challenges moving forward to be the complete ratification of the agreement, namely members in Africa who are forecast to benefit the most from the agreement, the effective implementation of the TFA and the notification of the development assistance under the agreement;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Is concerned, in the above context, that bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements could lead to the fragmentation of international trade policy and thus undermine the role of the WTO; cCalls, therefore, for the EU and its Member States to make additional efforts to once again place the WTO at the centre of global trade governance;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Is convinced that the current differentiationces between developed and developing countries does not reflect the effective situation in the WTO and that this has beenin the WTO are an obstacle to advancing the Doha Round, to the detriment of countries most in need; urges advanced developing countries to take up their share of responsibility and make contributions commensurate to their level of development and (sectoral) competitiveness; notes the Commission’s concept paper calls for rules under which developing countries will graduate from their low-income status as they grow richer; believes the special and differential treatment (S&DT) mechanism should be examined further as a policy tool for developing countries to link implementation of multilateral agreements with receiving assistance from richer countries and donor organisations;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Acknowledges that, on the whole, China’s accession to the WTO in 2001 has increased access to their domestic market, which has benefited the global economy; expresses concern that China does not apply the spirit and principles of the WTO’s tenets of national treatment;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Takes the view that it is necessary to revise the functioning of the negotiating process by introducing more flexibility than has currently been the case under the consensus rule, while recognising that the Single Undertaking approach has limited the effectiveness of multilateral trade governance; expresses its support for the concept of flexible multilateralism, whereby WTO members interested in pursuing a certain issue where full consensus is not yet possible should be able to advance and conclude plurilateral agreements either through so-called WTO Annex 4 agreements, in accordance with Article II:3, Article III:1, and Article X:9 of the Marrakesh Agreement, or via ‘critical mass’ agreements that extend negotiated concessions to the WTO membership on a most-favoured-nation (MFN) basis; encourages the Commission not to use these articles as an alternative to constructive dialogue with all WTO members to address barriers to trade and reform of the WTO and its functions;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Supports the trade liberalisation witnessed through the proliferation of bilateral, regional and plurilateral trade agreements in the past decade; insists that such agreements must complement and not undermine the multilateral agenda, in particular the conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda, and not be used as an alternative fora to address trade barriers, but rather as a stepping stone towards progress at the multilateral level;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Views the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) as a significant plurilateral initiative for signatories to mutually open their government procurement markets to open, fair and transparent competition; calls on the Commission to work with those members who are in the process of acceding to the GPA to accelerate their efforts in order to extend the benefits of procurement liberalisation among WTO members;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Recalls that the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) plurilateral negotiations strives to increase market access, trade and investment and improve international regulation, thereby shaping globalisation to ensure that it reflects EU values and principles; strongly encourages the Commission to work with WTO members to resume TiSA negotiations; is encouraged by the plurilateral discussions on 'services domestic regulation’ and supports the Commission’s work on this;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the importance of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of the Paris Agreement commitments in the fight against climate change, and of the role which trade can play in contributing towards their achievement; underlines that beyond the disappointing progress made at MC11 on negotiations on fisheries subsidies, the WTO must now define the more concrete action that needs to be taken in this regard; regrets that the Environmental Goods Agreement was blocked in 2016 and recalls its potential to provide greater access to green technologies and help achieve the targets agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Reaffirms the links between gender equality and inclusive development, as also expressed in SDG 5, emphasising that women’s empowerment is key to the eradication of poverty and that removing barriers to women’s participation in trade is critical for economic development; welcomes the increased focus of the WTO on issues related to trade and gender, and encourages all 121 signatories to the 2017 Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment to deliver on their commitments; notes the importance of initiative such as SheTrades to highlight the positive role of women in trade and encourage greater participation of women in international trade around the world;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that transparency is a key element in ensuring a stable and predictable trading and investment environment; believes it is important to enhance the transparency of monitoring procedures by increasing incentives for WTO members to comply with notification requirements and by providing capacity building if needed, while wilful non- compliance should be discouraged and challenged;