Europe

In comments submitted ahead of a U.S. International Trade Commission hearing on a potential U.S.-United Kingdom trade deal, industry groups offered a list of tariffs and other restrictions they hoped could be reduced or eliminated to improve U.S. market access in the UK, even as the scope of any deal is tied up in the result of Brexit.

As Brexit deadline closes in, UK government is seeking concessions from the EU, but without any clear path to a majority in Parliament.

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said on Thursday that trade talks between the EU and U.S. have suffered due to the bloc’s lack of “good faith,” accusing European officials of “misrepresenting” the scope of the deal agreed to last year by President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

U.S. industry stakeholders are not optimistic about the chances that ongoing U.S.-EU trade discussions will produce meaningful progress on regulatory issues, seen by some as the most attainable outcome of the trans-Atlantic talks.

The European Parliament’s International Trade Committee is considering a motion that would ask the Council of the EU -- representing the EU’s 28 member states -- to reject negotiating mandates it is considering that would allow the European Commission to formally launch trade talks with the United States.

"The Commission remains open to consider voluntary cooperation activities in additional sectors even if these are not mentioned explicitly in the Joint Statement."

Trade law calls for “outreach to small businesses across the U.S. to better understand important concerns regarding trade with these markets and how trade agreements would benefit small businesses.”

Industry groups on Tuesday said a future trade agreement with a post-Brexit United Kingdom should build off language in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, particularly its e-commerce and regulatory provisions.

“From the U.S. standpoint I don't know how you make that sale at all. Why do the heavy lifting of work on an agreement and leave unchanged some of the strongest tensions we have?”