Proposals for a more effective trade defence toolbox – a BusinessEurope position paper

Context

In view of the increasing number of industry complains and the perception that trade defence processes are slow and measures do not effectively address current market distortions, this paper intends to make some proposals aimed at improving the system while gathering industry consensus.

The current trade defence framework is not facing one isolated weakness, but a combination of structural challenges: increasingly sophisticated state-supported export strategies, complex value-chain distortions, faster circumvention patterns, insufficiently deterring remedies and a significant, widening gap between the speed of market disruption and the speed of institutional response. A modernised EU trade defence toolbox must therefore be comprehensive, combining faster initiation, stronger remedies, better monitoring, more effective enforcement and improved access for fragmented sectors and SMEs while taking into consideration the interests of the industry users.