Global News Of Note: India Will Ask EU To Ease Steel Tariffs

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• In 2022, the European Union (EU) and India restarted negotiations for a free trade agreement that had started more than 15 years earlier, but fell apart when talks stalled in 2013. As part of the new structure, the Indian government reportedly will request that the EU ease its steel import quotas. India, along with China, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and Ukraine are the main exporters of steel to the EU. Read more here. In related news: the United Kingdom announced it is reviewing the steel quotas that it has placed on developing countries. Read more here.
• While global aluminum output increased 6.1 percent from December 2021 to December 2022, during the same period, China’s aluminum imports in 2022 fell 25.6 percent from a year earlier as COVID-restrictions reduced consumption amid record high domestic production. At the same time, China’s crude steel output fell 2.1 percent from 2021 to 2022. It was the second yearly decline in a row.
• According to The Associated Press, China’s trade surplus expanded to a record $877.6 billion in 2022 as exports increased despite weakening U.S. and European demand and anti-COVID-19 controls that shut down the country for long periods of time in the last year. Specifically, exports were up seven percent from 2021 to $3.95 trillion. Imports increased just 1.1 percent to $2.7 trillion. Overall, China’s trade surplus increased by 29.7 percent between 2021 and 2022.