Farmers, Distillers Ask USTR to Negotiate End to Airbus-Boeing Dispute
Twenty-three trade groups, led by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and Farmers for Free Trade, are asking U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to work harder to resolve the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and thus remove European Union retaliatory tariffs on distilled spirits, cheeses, potatoes, nuts, fruits, juices, chocolate, ketchup and agricultural equipment. These retaliatory tariffs are the second round on ag exports, as the EU put 25% tariffs on whiskey, orange juice, rice and sweet corn in 2018 over steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the U.S. Some will rise to 50% next June, the groups said in a Nov. 18 letter.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
“The escalation of tariffs on the EU and U.S. spirits industry is compounding the severe economic crisis distilleries, restaurants and bars are facing as a result of COVID-19,” said Robert Maron, vice president for international trade at the Distilled Spirits Council, in a statement in a press release accompanying the letter. He said whiskey exports to the EU have fallen by 41% since the retaliatory tariffs went into effect in June 2018. Now the EU will tax rum, vodka and brandy.