EU Trade Commissioner Says EU Ready for Small Deal
European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said although it's not easy managing the trade relationship with the U.S., the EU and U.S. are still talking. “We’ve resumed conversations with the U.S. some weeks ago,” he said. “We’re up for a small confidence-building deal with the United States -- we have a lot of things we agree on. We’re waiting for the timing when President [Donald] Trump has made up his mind whether he wants to have a deal or not. If he does, we’re ready.”
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But Hogan, who was speaking in an online interview with EuroCommerce, noted that Trump threatened to tax European cars because Canada exports its lobsters duty-free to Europe, and that has eaten into Maine lobster sales. Canada signed a free trade deal with Europe; the U.S. has not.
“Judging by the signals coming out of the United States administration in recent days, I think we could have a troubling period ahead in the contest of the election,” Hogan said.
Hogan called it “totally unacceptable” that the U.S. is taxing agriculture products from 22 European countries because the World Trade Organization said that Airbus had not remedied the damage done to Boeing by its launch subsidies years ago.
Hogan was asked by someone watching the June 30 interview what the EU could do to help producers recover from the blow of 25% tariffs. He did not have an answer to that, aside from saying it's unfortunate that European food companies have been suffering since last October.
The EU believes that the damage done by illegal subsidies to Boeing also has not been remedied, and EU officials want to find an agreed framework for aircraft subsidies going forward and to drop both cases.
“We have made two attempts to negotiate a settlement with the United States, and they have been rejected,” he said. “I went in three weeks ago and when I spoke with Ambassador [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer about this, he said he was in a very comfortable position, because now they have unilaterally declared Boeing to be in compliance with the WTO ruling.”
“The WTO has not declared that Boeing is in compliance,” Hogan said. He said a WTO arbitrator's ruling is expected in early September. “We are ready to retaliate if we don’t have an agreed outcome by then. This is the way we have to be. We cannot stand idly by, we have to stand up for European industrial and trade policy.”
One thing Hogan and Lighthizer agree on is that politics is clouding the issues of animal welfare, acceptable pesticides and antibiotic use in livestock. “I would like to see everyone signing up to a science-based approach at the highest levels politically,” Hogan said. “Then they have to accept the independence of our agencies.”