European biodiesel producers said they were asking Brussels on Friday to impose punitive import duties on United States biodiesel but their US rivals said they would hit back with a complaint of their own. The trade in biofuels has surged due to growing demand for alternatives to fossil fuels as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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/ 18 October 2007
The European Union has given a cautious welcome to the outcome of a summit of three big developing countries. The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to seeking a deal in the long-delayed World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha round of global free-trade talks that was ”fair and acceptable to all”.
West Africa will miss a December 31 deadline to sign a new trade partnership with the European Union and hopes to keep its preferential commercial privileges for up to two years while it negotiates. Ministers from the Economic Community of West African States were meeting on Friday in Côte d’Ivoire to agree a common approach ahead of talks later this month with the EU.
European Union and Chinese trade officials have agreed on a new way to handle Chinese textile exports to the bloc when quotas expire on December 31. Officials said the plan might help improve cooperation between the EU and China over the Asian economic powerhouse’s snowballing trade surplus with the 27-nation bloc.