Forgot password?
Sign up today and your first download is free.
REGISTER
“Tough compromises … have to be made. And those are things that tend to come towards the end of a negotiation.”
The European Union on Tuesday unveiled two new legislative proposals on digital services and markets, prompting pushback from U.S. trade associations that called the possible moves protectionist and discriminatory.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer appeared on Monday to dash the dreams of a last-minute Boeing-Airbus resolution while he’s still in office, or a nearly complete U.S.-United Kingdom deal to hand off to the Biden administration.
The U.S. should “embrace” Europe’s recent overture to improve trade relations with the U.S. and forge a new arrangement to counter China’s “intensifying” ambitions, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) said this week.
The European Commission is throwing cold water on the United Kingdom’s attempts to suspend tariffs on U.S. goods for subsidies the U.S. has provided to Boeing, claiming that the UK has no right to alter the tariffs because the World Trade Organization has authorized only the EU to impose retaliatory tariffs.
The United Kingdom will suspend retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. as part of the long-running Airbus-Boeing dispute to show it is “serious” about a negotiated settlement, the country’s trade department announced on Tuesday, saying it hoped to “de-escalate” trade conflicts – but retaining duties imposed in response to the Trump administration’s Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The European Union and the United States under the Biden administration should agree to work out trade issues in a defined order beginning with World Trade Organization moves and a negotiated settlement of the longstanding aerospace subsidies dispute, EU Director-General for Trade Sabine Weyand said on Tuesday.
“France’s decision to collect a discriminatory digital services tax next month represents an escalation against American employers and leave more U.S. industries open to unfair foreign taxes.”
The European Union is mulling a draft plan to boost trans-Atlantic coordination to confront China, according to a report this week. The bloc also advanced a tariff deal with the U.S. that both sides have described as a possible precursor to broader agreements.
The European Commission should use the momentum generated by a limited tariff deal with the U.S. to advance toward a “broader cooperation agreement” that goes beyond tariff reductions, members of the European Parliament argue in a resolution under debate this week.
“I can’t stress how important that is.”
The European Union, Canada, Japan and 10 other countries on Monday pledged to launch an initiative on medical supplies aimed at identifying steps World Trade Organization members can take to facilitate trade and better position countries amid the public health crisis.
Support for the multilateral trading system is “now as important as ever,” leaders from the world’s largest economies said this weekend at the conclusion of a virtual G20 summit.
With President-elect Joe Biden set to take over the Oval Office in January, the United Kingdom is preparing to make its case to the new administration for quickly finishing the in-progress bilateral trade deal, according to a British official familiar with the matter – but the effort is up against a narrow timeframe and unknown Biden trade priorities.
For the Trump administration, World Trade Organization reform is not possible without an acknowledgment from all countries that membership requires market-oriented policies -- but this fundamental priority, like many U.S. reform proposals, faces a China-sized stumbling block as the organization limps into its 26th year.
“Following adoption of the EP’s position at first reading, the Council will be called upon to formally adopt the Regulation so that it can be published in the Official Journal and enter into force.”
The U.S. and the European Union should counter Chinese trade practices aimed at boosting its rise in high-tech areas by reforming the World Trade Organization, rekindling trans-Atlantic trade talks and coordinating on technology policy, according to a report issued Wednesday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republicans.
France has begun trying to collect digital services taxes, sources tell Inside U.S. Trade, with several U.S. companies receiving invoices earlier this week.
While major World Trade Organization members like the European Union, China, Canada and Japan are launching new environmental and sustainability initiatives in Geneva, the U.S. so far has not joined the efforts and this week criticized the European Green Deal at the WTO.
With less than two months to go before the United Kingdom formally breaks off from the European Union, several World Trade Organization members this week pressed London and Brussels for more answers on their prospective market-access plans.