EU and US to restart trade talks as sticking points on July tariff deal remain | International trade
The EU and the US are set to restart trade talks next week after a two-month break to try to resolve outstanding sticking points in their controversial tariff deal in July.
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer will hold high-level meetings with ministers, EU commissioners and industry bosses in Brussels on Monday.
The face-to-face talks are the first since the six-week U.S. government shutdown that began in early October. In a high-risk move, Lutnick and Greer were invited to lunch with 27 commerce secretaries who gathered for the summit on Monday.
One insider said: “We need to stay focused, we don’t want individual countries approaching them and demanding agreements on this, that and that.”
Brussels struck a deal with Donald Trump at his golf course in Scotland in July to eliminate the threat of 50% tariffs; instead it adopted a basic 15% tax on most EU imports to the US.
Now Washington officials have made clear they are frustrated with the EU’s slow pace of implementing the agreement, which is not legally binding and must go through parliament, a process that could take until February.
Key issues expected to be discussed at Monday’s talks include the ongoing 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, separate tariffs on products containing steel elements, and food and beverage taxes.
Many member states want the 15% duty on wine and spirits to be scrapped, including France, which is affected by duties on cognac, Ireland on whiskey and all wine-producing countries.
Before dinner on Monday night, Lutnick and Greer will meet with EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius and technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen to discuss the ongoing crisis over chip supplies from China.
They will meet industry bosses at a roundtable that is also expected to include the heads of Volkswagen and French company TotalEnergies, according to insiders.
An EU official said convincing the US that steel derivatives were completely contrary to the spirit of the July deal was “the number one priority”.
In September, the US listed 407 products that contain an element of steel, from knitting needles to wind turbines to washing machines, that would face separate tariffs.
And now it plans to add another 700 products, including cans and bicycles, as part of a continuity program to protect its industries.
Companies such as German farm machinery firm Krone said the “hidden” tariffs were worrying and were causing a nightmare for exporters, with US customs officials imposing 200% tariffs on anyone who did not complete a mountain of paperwork, arguing that all steel originates “from suppliers” and “supplier to supplier”.
The EU and the US will also discuss the possibility of working in concert to “ring ring” domestic steel industries to protect against cheaper Chinese imports.
Brussels hopes steel anti-dumping proposals announced in October and matched by Trump’s steel tariffs will persuade the US president to reduce 50% tariffs on EU steel.
