Tag: EU-US trade

The European Union dropped its ban on some US meat imports on Monday (4 February) in a gesture aimed at starting talks on a free-trade pact that would encompass about half the world's economic output.

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing is still getting US subsidies despite Washington's claim to have stopped the handouts, the European Union said yesterday (25 September) in the latest round of the world's biggest trade dispute.

Multilateral liberalisation would be more effective in reducing trade discrimination than preferential free trade agreements, write Jagdish Bhagwati, professor of economics and law at Columbia University and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and Arvind Panagariya, professor of economics and Indian political economy at Columbia University.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk welcomed a new report on Tuesday (19 January) he said showed the potential to create well-paying American jobs by encouraging more small and medium-sized US companies to export, eyeing the EU model.

EU consumer groups are calling for transatlantic product standards legislation to be better enforced. But business representatives warn that regulatory cooperation is "not always very good" for industry.

"The vocation of Europe in the course of the 21^st century is to become the lever of step-by-step intercontinental convergence and unification," writes former Belgian Prime Minister Mark Eyskens in an August paper for Europe's World, claiming that one must look to the future "to understand Europe's current choices".

High-level delegations from the EU and the United States will meet next week (13 May) for talks on eliminating remaining regulatory obstacles hampering trade and investment between the two economic giants. A long-standing poultry dispute between the two sides is topping the agenda. 

To the anger of green NGOs, the EU has decided not to appeal against a WTO ruling which upholds a US-led complaint that it is illegally blocking imports of genetically modified food.

In an interview with EurActiv, Ted Austell, Boeing’s vice-president of international trade policy, and Robert T. Novick, who represents Boeing in the WTO aircraft subsidy cases, explain why they are confident in the US' case against the EU regarding subsidies awarded to Airbus, while reassuring that this dispute will not be detrimental to transatlantic relations nor to the WTO as an institution.

As opposition to more trade liberalisation grows in the US Congress, MEPs have voted for a transatlantic market without barriers to be implemented within the next ten years.

The Bush administration's foreign policy, the way people feel about globalisation and Americans' 'collective personality' will harm US companies when they do business in Europe, Keith Reinhard, president of Business for Diplomatic Action, says.

A Commission communication sets out to end remaining non-tariff trade barriers in the €600 billion EU-US trade relationship. Trade Commissioner Mandelson hopes to reach an understanding in the Airbus-Boeing row.  

EU trade representative Pascal Lamy and and his US counterpart Robert Zoellick have exchanged strong comments after the two trading partners filed competing unfair trade cases to the WTO over state aid to Airbus and Boeing.

EU asks WTO for sanctions against US over FSCs despite signature of new legislation.