Ryan Olson
May 31, 2019
Ambassador Robert
E. Lighthizer, United States Trade Representative; Mrs. Cecilia Malmström,
European Commissioner for Trade; and Mr. Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy,
Trade and Industry of Japan, met in Paris on May 23, 2019 to discuss shared
objectives to address non market-oriented policies and practices of third countries
that lead to create unfair competitive conditions for their workers and
businesses.
During the meeting the ministers reiterated their concerns
and agreed to deepen cooperation in the following areas:
- Market-oriented
conditions;
- Forced technology
transfer policies and practices;
- Industrial
subsides and state-owned enterprises;
- WTO reform;
- and digital trade
and e-commerce.
The
Ministers also voiced concerns over industrial subsidies and third parties’
developing State Enterprises into national champions, disrupting
market-oriented trade and confirmed that market-oriented conditions are
fundamental to a fair, mutually advantageous global trading system.
Additionally, the Ministers welcomed progress made in discussions on text-based
work on increasing transparency, identifying harmful subsides that merit
stricter treatment and ensuring that appropriate benchmarks can be used.
Ministers instructed their staff to continue efforts to finalize trilateral
text-based work on this issue and to engage with other key WTO Members to
strengthen industrial subsidies rules to address market distortions.
The
full statement on the meeting can be found here.