Brazil, Gulf states, Malaysia, Russia Lose EU Trade Benefits

A score of high-income nations such as Brazil, Russia and the Gulf states lost their privileged access to the EU’s 500 million consumers as the bloc handed their benefits to poorer states. Issuing a revised list of countries entitled to zero-import tariff rates for the world’s biggest consumer market, the EU’s executive said that the “new scheme will be focused on fewer beneficiaries to ensure more impact on countries most in need.”
The new system of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) will come into effect January 1, 2014, for 89 nations, 49 of which are listed as least developed countries. Of these, 33 are in Africa, 10 in Asia, including Myanmar, five in the Pacific and Haiti in the Caribbean.