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Thursday, December 31, 2020
The EU is already negotiating with Biden
Trump imposes punitive tariffs on German wine
Shortly before his resignation, the president of the United States, Trump, is turning the screw of grief again. Due to controversial subsidies for Boeing and Airbus, the US and Europe are imposing sanctions on each other. Now it comes to French cognac and German wine. The EU is already negotiating with Biden.
Shortly before his departure, the administration of US President Donald Trump reignited the trade dispute with the EU: in the dispute over subsidies for aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, Washington announced new punitive tariffs on French products and Germans. According to the United States Trade Commission (USTR), the tariffs will affect “aircraft components from France and Germany, certain wines, as well as cognacs and other brandies from France and Germany.” The United States described the new tariffs as a countermeasure against tariffs imposed by the EU, which are unfair.
Both sides have been fighting for 16 years for public aid for European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and its American competitor Boeing. In October, the World Trade Organization (WTO) allowed the European side to impose punitive tariffs on US products worth $ 4 billion a year in retaliation for illegal state aid to Boeing.
However, Washington feels that the EU’s calculation method puts it at a disadvantage when it comes to charging punitive tariffs. The EU “used trade data from a time when the volume of trade was significantly reduced due to the dire effects of Covid-19 on the global economy,” the USTR said. “The result of this decision was that Europe was imposing tariffs on many more products than would have been the case in a normal period.” Furthermore, the EU based its decision on tariffs on the trade volume of EU countries, excluding Great Britain. As a result, punitive tariffs for the United States have been unfairly increased, argued the USTR.
The EU regrets the unilateral intervention
The United States also received a green light from the WTO in 2019 for import surcharges worth $ 7.5 billion due to illegal EU subsidies for Airbus. Punitive US tariffs have so far been applied against products such as wine, cheese and olive oil, in addition to Airbus aircraft. Now these have been expanded.
The EU “regretted” the new punitive tariffs against products from Germany and France. The Washington government had “unilaterally” interrupted ongoing talks with its approach, the EU Commission said in Brussels on Thursday. He also expressed the hope that he could resolve the dispute with the government of future US President Joe Biden.
Airbus criticized the tariffs as “counterproductive”, also for the US industry. These testify to a willingness to “intensify the conflict”, to which Europe must react “appropriately”, the European aircraft manufacturer said. The Association of Exporters of Wines and Spirits of France (FEVS) expressed its “anger” and its “bewilderment”. The French wine and spirits industry is being “sacrificed by a dispute in the aviation industry”, criticized the president of the association, César Giron.
