Brussels confirmed on Friday that the field in which he / she wishes to register the trade negotiations between the european Union and the United States. In the light of the two draft directive published by the european Commission – one on the abolition of customs duties for industrial products, the other on the issues of compliance, the european ambitions are very different and much more circumscribed than those that had Washington last week.
In fact, agricultural products are excluded from the negotiations – a red line for France, while the Americans are fighting for access to friction-free to the european agricultural market. “There are many aspects which are not covered,” admitted the european commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström. This is also the case of automobiles, a subject particularly sensitive in Berlin while Donald Trump still poses a threat to tax to 25% to pressure the Union. The Europeans could discuss “in the context of a broader agreement if the United States agree to work towards the abolition of customs duties on all industrial products,” stated the commissioner.
The goal of the Commission is to revert to the agreement reached in late July between Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump
The goal of the Commission is to revert to the agreement reached in late July between Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump. “Brussels will scrupulously comply with the July agreement, while the agreement of July, but nothing that the agreement of July,” says a source european. Which is also seen in the way of making Brussels a pledge of unity stronger among the Twenty-Eight on this folder to risks. “By publishing all this, we force the unit of the member States around this document and it avoids any risk of up of the knee around the Board table,” says the source. Before we discuss, possibly with Washington, the ball is in the camp of the member States, who must give their green light to these two directives proposed by the Commission.
