Industry experts and analysts said the European Union’s decision to partially suspend trade privileges afforded to Cambodia indicated the economic bloc’s frustration at the deteriorating democratic situation in the country, but was also an attempt to alleviate the impact on workers.
After a year-long withdrawal procedure, the EU Commission said on Wednesday it had decided to suspend the “Everything But Arms” (EBA) trade privileges on all travel goods and sugar exports, but imposed only a partial suspension on garment and footwear products.
The suspension would affect 20 percent of exports to the EU, amounting to $1.1 billion of exports annually, the Commission said.
