EU palm oil restrictions risk sparking trade spat

EU lawmakers are poised to vote for a ban on the import of palm oil-based biofuels by 2020, in a bid to protect threatened rainforests. If translated into law, such a move could trigger a trade conflict, seven palm oil producing countries have warned. Indonesia, Malaysia and Colombia are among those to have protested to the European president Antonio Tajani that the motion up for debate contains “trade discriminatory language”.