BRUSSELS, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- EU trade policy has begun to target administrative barriers and eschew global pacts for bilateral agreements.
Peter Mandelson, who has been EU trade commissioner for two years, was expected to announce a push for deals between individual nations or regions to knock down more quickly trade barriers that certain countries use to block services and investments from foreigners, the International Herald Tribune reported.
Tariff issues, meanwhile, have emerged as sharply divisive among EU members, with some clamoring for low-cost imports and others concerned over the effect on their own manufacturing sectors of such imports.
As an alternative to pursuing the volatile tariff approach, EU trade officials are increasingly focused on tackling regulatory hurdles that impede EU entities from foreign expansion. China, for example, requires 15 times more initial capitalization from foreigners to start a bank than it does from domestic interests.
