EU-China Trade Disputes in the WTO: Looking Back to Look Forward

Abstract: Based on an overview of EU-China trade relations in the past 30 years, this article analyses the current status of EU-China trade disputes in the WTO, as well as its implications for the future. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the EU and China have used the dispute settlement system of the WTO to solve bilateral trade disputes on several occasions. Although the numbers in that regard are not yet very large, the potential for bilateral trade disputes to significantly increase cannot be underestimated. How EU-China trade disputes in the WTO are to be managed has farreaching implications, not only for the mutual relationship of these two key global players, but also for the global economy and the multilateral trading system at large.

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