According to data from European Union statistics agency Eurostat, the People’s Republic of China surpassed the United States as the EU’s largest trading partner last year, with more than $710 billion in goods exchanged.

“In the year 2020, China was the main partner for the EU. This result was due to an increase of imports (5.6 per cent) and exports (2.2 per cent). At the same time, trade with the United States recorded a significant drop in both imports (-13.2 per cent) and exports (-8.2 per cent),” Eurostat said in a report released on Tuesday. The data doesn’t include China’s trade with the United Kingdom, which departed the EU last year.

By contrast, US trade with the EU was just €555 billion ($672 billion), a 10% decline from 2019.

Nick Marro, global trade lead at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told the South China Morning Post that demand for luxury goods in the Chinese economy, which closed down and opened up again much sooner than other countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, helped keep European exports afloat while much of the rest of the planet remained in lockdown. However, the change is likely temporary.

“[The] expansion in total EU-China trade volumes more reflects strong growth in EU imports from China in 2020, rather than European exports benefiting strongly from China’s economic recovery,” Marro told the Hong Kong-based paper. “As a result, the overall structure of the EU’s trade relations are still more or less unchanged, and the importance of the US as a trade partner hasn’t meaningfully diminished. We’ll likely see a stronger revival in transatlantic trade flows as the pandemic comes under control in both markets, including as both sides jump-start their post-crisis recoveries.”

However, with the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) finalized last December after years of negotiations, that claim is cast into doubt. The deal will remove barriers to EU companies investing on the Chinese mainland, opening the door for the automobile and electronics industries, among others.

For the moment, the boom in EU-China trade has had an unexpected effect: the dramatic growth in shipping rates. According to the Financial Times, shipping costs have quadrupled since October thanks to a shortage in shipping containers as cargo ships sit idle in European and American ports. Even with new orders for containers, the price hike is likely to last well into 2021 due to the cargo backlog.

In the final months of 2020, the Chinese economy shattered its previous export records as it became the global factory for medical equipment for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic while itself being almost totally free of the virus. However, for 2021, economists have set big goals: Fitch Ratings has predicted a colossal 8% economic growth for China this year, which isn’t even the largest estimate out there.

A report by the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a UK-based think tank, predicted China would pass the US as the world’s largest economy by 2028.

Check out our timeline to find out how the EU is tackling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021.

Source : © European Union, 2021 – EP

FRA presented areas where EU funding could help address fundamental rights challenges in the field of asylum, borders and immigration. This could support Member States om their the implementation of EU law safeguards as they prepare their multiannual programmes under the new migration and security funds.

FRA gave the presentation during a European Commission workshop on 10 February. FRA highlighted issues relating to child protection, the integration of migrants and refugees, fundamental rights monitoring at borders and the implementation of EU law safeguards when setting up new large-scale information technology systems.

Epic Games widened its legal battle with Apple by filing an antitrust complaint against it in the European Union.

Fortnite maker Epic said it is “expanding the company’s fight to advance fairer digital platform practices for developers and consumers.”

The complaint, filed with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, alleges that through a “series of carefully designed anti-competitive restrictions, Apple has not just harmed but completely eliminated competition in app distribution and payment processes. Apple uses its control of the iOS ecosystem to benefit itself while blocking competitors and its conduct is an abuse of a dominant position and in breach of EU competition law.”

Apple hasn’t responded to a request for comment yet. The complaint complements legal processes already underway in both the U.S. and Australia, as well as Epic’s recent filing before the United Kingdom’s Competition Appeal Tribunal.

“What’s at stake here is the very future of mobile platforms,” Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said today in a statement. “Consumers have the right to install apps from sources of their choosing and developers have the right to compete in a fair marketplace. We will not stand idly by and allow Apple to use its platform dominance to control what should be a level digital playing field. It’s bad for consumers, who are paying inflated prices due to the complete lack of competition among stores and in-app payment processing. And it’s bad for developers, whose very livelihoods often hinge on Apple’s complete discretion as to who to allow on the iOS platform, and on which terms.”

Epic said it has been harmed by Apple’s anti-competitive restrictions across payments and app distribution. When Epic gave Fortnite players on iOS a choice between Apple payment and Epic direct payment (at a lower price than Apple charged in the app store), Apple retaliated, removing Fortnite from the app store for violating its policies. And while Apple has launched its own gaming distribution service, Apple Arcade, it has barred competitors including Epic from doing the same, Epic said.

Epic also said that the battle is much bigger than Epic versus Apple: “It goes to the heart of whether consumers and developers can do business together directly on mobile platforms or are forced to use monopoly channels against their wishes and interests. Epic has asked the commission to address Apple’s anti-competitive conduct by imposing timely and effective remedies. Epic is not seeking damages from Apple, as is the case in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. It is simply seeking fair access and competition that will benefit consumers and developers.”

Epic said that, following complaints from other app developers, the European Commission is already investigating Apple.

LAHORE: European Union Ambassador in Pakistan Mrs Androulla Kaminara called on Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Tuesday and discussed the matters of mutual interest. Both agreed to constitute a working group for expanding bilateral cooperation. The EU ambassador expressed the satisfaction that positive headway has been made by Pakistan with regard to GPS-plus status and assured of cooperation in water waste management and other sectors.

Talking on the occasion, the CM appreciated the cooperation extended by the European Union for social sector reforms and expressed satisfaction that economic cooperation and best friendly relations exist between Pakistan and the EU countries. The EU is a major trade partner and the government wants to further strengthen bilateral relations to benefit the people, he added. While discussing the steps relating to the GPS plus status, the chief minister pointed out that a number of important initiatives have been taken. The government is committed to overcoming the menace of child labour and every citizen enjoys equal rights in the country, he said.

The government has focused on development of the backward areas as there is a lot of scope of value addition in agriculture and livestock sectors, he added. He said provision of technology in both sectors by the EU countries would be welcomed.

Meanwhile, the CM pointed out that important steps have been taken to defeat the philosophy of fanaticism at every level. Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that the parliamentarians will be given full respect and honour.

He stated this while talking to Minister of State for Housing and Works Muhammad Shabir Ali, Provincial Minister Mian Khalid Mahmood, Special Assistant Umer Farooq, Khan Sher Akbar Khan, Khurram Ijaz, Umer Aftab, Shakeel Shahid, Muhammad Latif Nazar who called on at Civil Secretariat to apprise him of the problems in their constituencies.