EU begins process to hit Cambodia with trade sanctions
The bloc is threatening to suspend the country’s duty-free access over human rights and democracy concerns
Brussels — The EU started an 18-month process on Monday that could lead to the suspension of Cambodia’s duty-free trade access over its record on human rights and democracy. The European Commission, which co-ordinates trade policy for the 28-member EU, said its decision to start the process would be published in the EU official journal on February 12, triggering a countdown that could run until August 2020. Cambodia benefits from the EU’s “Everything but Arms” (EBA) trade regime, which allows the world’s poorest countries to sell any goods, except weapons, tariff-free into the bloc. The EU warned Cambodia in July 2018 that it could lose this special status, after elections maintained Prime Minister Hun Sen in power and gave his party all parliamentary seats. He has led the country since 1985. The EU is Cambodia’s largest trading partner, accounting for 45% of its exports in 2018. Clothing factories there employ about 700,000 workers, and garments are a large share of exports to the ...
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