Presentation and Analysis of Recent Developments in Trade in Tuna Products; An EU Perspective

Trade in tuna products with the EU faces systemic changes. In 2013, the EU launched a raft of large-scale negotiations, with countries including the United States and Japan. This comes on top of a number of ongoing negotiations (e.g., Mercosur, Thailand, and Vietnam), as well as recently concluded ones (e.g., Korea, Canada, Andean Community). Equally important for the tuna sector is a cluster of EU development-oriented negotiations known as Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Finally, it is particularly important that the tuna sector is aware of the modernisation of the EU's scheme of trade concessions for developing countries, known as the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The new rules entered into force on 1 January 2014 and will have an impact on the sector. Looking at the most recent trade figures, it seems that for the moment significant changes have not materialised yet. It will take more time before the trade flows are impacted.