Catherine Ashton Appointed As EU Trade Commissioner

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

15 October 2008

Catherine Ashton has been confirmed as the new European Commissioner for Trade.

The appointment by the Council of Ministers follows the departure of Peter Mandelson to take up the position of Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the United Kingdom. Ashton assumed the duties of Trade Commissioner as of October 6.

Speaking following her appointment, Commissioner Ashton said: "I am delighted and very proud to have been asked to serve as Commissioner, to be a part of the European response to the global challenges we face. I look forward to setting out my views to EU member states and the European Parliament very soon."

Catherine Ashton was nominated by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in agreement with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Prior to her appointment, Ashton was a Labour member in the UK House of Lords, the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in Gordon Brown's first cabinet in June 2007. She is an economist and previously held positions as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education and Skills, Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice.

While Mandelson's stint as the European trade chief has been viewed by some as a success, Ashton will be facing a number of testing issues in her first weeks in the job, not least with regard to the often strained trade relationship between the EU and China on the subject of trade barriers. Indeed, one of Mandelson's last actions as Trade Commissioner was to order a review into anti-dumping measures against shoe imports from China and Vietnam, which currently face additional import duties of 16.5% and 10% respectively. It was widely expected that Mandelson would have extended these measure for another two years.

Also, last month, Mandelson proposed a major update of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), a major trade deal between some of the world's biggest trade powers that lowers the cost of IT products. This followed the decision by the US, Japan and Taiwan to request a WTO dispute settlement panel against the EU with respect to its tariff treatment of certain information technology products.

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