European Director General for Trade Says US Not Willing to Negotiate Lower Tariffs on Industrial Goods
Over the year since the European Union and the U.S. agreed to pursue trade talks, the two sides "have actually made some decent progress" on regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, but "where we are stuck is on industrial tariffs," said Sabine Weyand, director general for trade at the European Commission.
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The EC president and President Donald Trump agreed that the two sides would work to eliminate industrial tariffs -- aside from autos -- and harmonize regulations. But since then, many in Congress have said they are not interested in a free trade agreement that leaves out agriculture. Weyand said that when the EU has put forward proposals on industrial tariffs, there has not been "much take-up," and she said during her visit to Washington, which began July 22, she wants to "learn why that might be the case." Weyand said she's not sure whether there's just philosophical opposition to lowering tariffs in the White House, or whether Americans only want to discuss industrial tariffs if agriculture is on the table.
Weyand, who was speaking July 22 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there should be a way to settle the Airbus-Boeing subsidy dispute. "I think we need to build trust by making progress on concrete issues," she said, and if the two regions settle long-standing trade irritants, it would free up energy for making sure China can function without distorting world trade.
She called the steel and aluminum tariffs and the threat of auto tariffs, along with the Airbus issue, a "morale-sapping, growth-slowing series of skirmishes." She said in terms of the threatened auto action, "we will not go down the road of managed trade."
"It's time to put this to bed," she said, noting that Airbus and Boeing are no longer the only game in town, and suggested China might be having deeper pockets for airplane subsidies. She said that she hopes a negotiated settlement could happen before tariffs come into play. She said one of her objectives is "to see whether we have the ingredients to put the Airbus-Boeing dispute to bed." She said Europe is ready to both comply with a WTO ruling and jointly create disciplines for the future.