EU hits US with $4 billion tariffs, hoping Biden will be more positive in dealing with ties
The European Union will impose tariffs on imports of $4 billion in US goods from Tuesday, while hoping that president-elect Joe Biden will foster a sharp improvement in transatlantic ties.
The bloc will exercise the right to counter-measures awarded to it last month by the World Trade Organization in a case against US planemaker Boeing, part of a long-running US-EU battle over civil aviation subsidies.
“We have made clear at every stage that we want to settle this long-running issue,” EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference after a video meeting of EU trade ministers.
“Regrettably, despite our best efforts (and) due to lack of progress on the US side, we can confirm that the European Union will later today exercise our rights and impose counter-measures awarded to us by the WTO in respect to Boeing.”
He added that this meant the tariffs, set to hit US exports of planes and parts and a range of farm produce, would come into force on Tuesday.
Dombrovskis, a vice president of the European Commission, repeated an EU offer that the bloc would suspend its measures if the United States did the same, but said Washington had so far not agreed to do so.
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the same news conference that many EU countries saw Biden’s election victory as a chance to reconfigure trade policy.
“We will try to get a new start in trade policy between the United States and all member states,” said Altmaier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
He added that Europe’s goal was to find new common ground with the future Biden administration and then reduce tariffs as much as possible.
Source : Mirror / Trinity Newspapers
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