TTC Talks Investment Screening, Export Controls, but No Initiatives Announced

The joint statement said the EU and U.S. "recognize that appropriate measures designed to address risks from outbound investment could be important to complement existing tools of targeted controls on exports and inbound investments, which work together to protect our sensitive technologies from being used in ways that threaten international peace and security." They also said they would work to coordinate outbound investment restrictions with other G-7 countries to maximize effectiveness.

At a press conference attended by two top EU officials, the U.S. commerce secretary, the secretary of state and the U.S. trade representative, a reporter asked if it's hard to coordinate the approach to China, since the EU and the U.S. have different views on trade with China.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he sees convergence between Europe and the U.S. "Together we’ve been working on things like investment screening mechanisms, on coordinating on export controls ... .” He added: “We start from exactly the same approach, which is that none of us are looking for confrontation, none of us are looking for a Cold War, and none of us are looking for decoupling. On the contrary, we all benefit from trade and investment from China."

European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager agreed that the EU seeks to de-risk, not decouple the countries. She noted the EU has an anti-coercion instrument and is working on a broader strategy for economic security, and export controls are part of that. She said the EU member countries wish to "identify risks, deal with them and then trade for the rest of it."

The joint statement said the U.S. and the EU will consult together in advance of introducing new "export controls on sensitive items." It also said the two sides will discuss how to determine which emerging technologies should be subject to export controls.

It also noted that the "TTC continues to contribute to a coordinated and effective response to Russia’s war in Ukraine by the United States and the European Union, including in areas such as sanction-related export restrictions ... ."

On inbound investment screening, the statement said: "The European Union and the United States welcome the recent significant progress towards the adoption and full implementation of investment screening mechanisms in a number of European Union Member States without such systems. The European Union and the United States continue to support the development and implementation of these mechanisms, including through joint outreach to interested stakeholders starting with the Western Balkans."

The two sides said economic coercion is becoming more frequent. "This includes attempts to undermine other governments' legitimate policy decisions through the use, or threat of use, of targeting of foreign firms and individuals to prevent or interfere with the foreign government's exercise of its legitimate sovereign right or choices, such as through opaque regulatory and cybersecurity reviews." The EU and the U.S. said they "share deep concern, underscored by the transatlantic business community, about actions against independent business diligence and advisory firms that are essential for investor confidence and the integrity of commercial transactions."

Not all of the export-focused work of the TTC was centered on security threats. The statement said the two sides are trying to simplify reexport procedures and "develop a common understanding of how the EU and US rules are applied on both sides of the Atlantic."