The Revised Trade Policy of European Union : Focusing on the Countermeasures of Korea
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Cho Byung-Whee , Jeon Hyeong-Gu 
Published: June 2018

In 2010, the trade policy of EU was revised, which was for the implementation of the foreign trade policy of the strategy “Europe 2020”. The revised trade policy was modified on the basis of the performance assessment of the Global Europe 2006 trade policy. In adopting the new policy, the EU will actively raise trade issues such as service trade, foreign direct investment, public procurement, and intellectual properties for supporting European corporations in the global market. Furthermore, the EU is planning to conclude the FTAs currently being negotiated as well as the WTO DDA as early as possible, run a public-private joint monitoring system to keep a watchful eye on non-tariff barriers in trading partners, and take full advantage of various trade defense measures including Trade Barriers Regulations (TBR).
As the countermeasures to the revised trade policy of the EU, the following 5 points are of importance: ① Through the cooperation with the EU in the field of international trade issues, Korea should find more chances for strategic partnership relations between the EU and Korea. By the Korea-EU FTA, Korea has already completed negotiations for sensitive trade issues, which the EU could possibly raise. Therefore the possibility of bilateral trade dispute is very low, and the situation in reality gives Korea more bilateral cooperation possibilities for the openness of the third markets. ② Korea should take up a positive attitude for signing the WTO DDA of EU. ③ Korea should check the areas that could cause a trade dispute under the new trade policy of the EU. The EU is expected to pay special attention to the implementation of the Korea-EU FTA, closely monitoring in particular the fulfillment of the agreement. ④ Korea is to pay attention to the relationship between EU and its main trading partners - in particular Japan and China. ⑤ Korea should expand its network system to monitor the trade policy of the EU, which will have a significant influence on various regulations of international trade.
In 2010, the trade policy of EU was revised, which was for the implementation of the foreign trade policy of the strategy “Europe 2020”. The revised trade policy was modified on the basis of the performance assessment of the Global Europe 2006 trade policy. In adopting the new policy, the EU will actively raise trade issues such as service trade, foreign direct investment, public procurement, and intellectual properties for supporting European corporations in the global market. Furthermore, the EU is planning to conclude the FTAs currently being negotiated as well as the WTO DDA as early as possible, run a public-private joint monitoring system to keep a watchful eye on non-tariff barriers in trading partners, and take full advantage of various trade defense measures including Trade Barriers Regulations (TBR).
As the countermeasures to the revised trade policy of the EU, the following 5 points are of importance: ① Through the cooperation with the EU in the field of international trade issues, Korea should find more chances for strategic partnership relations between the EU and Korea. By the Korea-EU FTA, Korea has already completed negotiations for sensitive trade issues, which the EU could possibly raise. Therefore the possibility of bilateral trade dispute is very low, and the situation in reality gives Korea more bilateral cooperation possibilities for the openness of the third markets. ② Korea should take up a positive attitude for signing the WTO DDA of EU. ③ Korea should check the areas that could cause a trade dispute under the new trade policy of the EU. The EU is expected to pay special attention to the implementation of the Korea-EU FTA, closely monitoring in particular the fulfillment of the agreement. ④ Korea is to pay attention to the relationship between EU and its main trading partners - in particular Japan and China.