Europe

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and United Kingdom Trade Secretary Liz Truss are meeting in Washington, DC, this week to discuss a possible bilateral trade deal as well as retaliatory tariffs imposed as part of the long-running Airbus-Boeing dispute, according to the UK Department of International Trade.

More progress has been made in 2020 in the Airbus-Boeing subsidies dispute than in the previous 15 years, EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Thursday, citing Airbus’ recent claims of compliance as a major breakthrough.

The U.S. on Wednesday rebuffed the European Union’s claim that it had further resolved subsidies in question in a World Trade Organization dispute over large civil aircraft, arguing that the bloc had provided no details to the U.S. or the WTO and had not addressed other WTO-inconsistent measures.

The United Kingdom wants the U.S. to accept British lamb and haggis -- both banned in the U.S. -- but is unwilling to budge on its refusal to accept most U.S. chicken into its market, British officials said in an interview with The Times on Tuesday.

World Trade Organization members were presented with two very different candidates vying for the director-general position on Friday – one offering a business approach to “stabilize” the organization as the other claiming a need for a battle-hardened politician.

The three director-general candidates to speak to World Trade Organization members on Thursday leaned heavily on their trade and political experience in making the case for their bids to lead the organization out of its crisis.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday issued a list of French goods worth $1.3 billion that will be hit with 25 percent tariffs if France begins collecting digital services taxes from U.S. companies next year.

British Trade Secretary Liz Truss said on Wednesday that she sees a clear “way forward” for the U.S. and United Kingdom to secure a high-standard trade deal, arguing that protecting UK redlines and lowering barriers were not mutually exclusive.

European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on Monday cited “unacceptable” Section 232 investigations the Commerce Department has launched in recent months and the Section 301 digital services tax probes the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative initiated in June in urging the European Parliament to quickly grant the Commission new retaliatory powers.