The long-term transatlantic dispute between the United States and European Union started with mutual accusations of illegal financial assistance to aircraft manufacturers. In order to resolve the dispute, the World Trade Organization allowed countries to impose mirror tariffs on each other’s goods.
US authorities have imposed additional tariffs on a number of goods from the European Union, including aircraft-related parts and wines from France and Germany.
According to a Wednesday statement from the US Trade Representative’s office, when the EU set tariffs for some American products, Brussels used data from a period in which “trade volumes had been drastically reduced” due to coronavirus-related restrictions.
According to USTR, for that reason Washington expanded its list of European duty products, adding some alcohol products from France and Germany, along with aircraft-manufacturing parts.
Transatlantic trade dispute
The trade conflict between Washington and Brussels over Boeing and Airbus has been ongoing since 2004. Both sides accuse each other of violating WTO rules and providing unauthorized government subsidies to their aircraft builders.
In 2019, the WTO decided that there were violations of the organization’s rules in the Airbus case, which gave the legal right to impose countervailing duties from the US. However, in 2020, a similar decision was made in favor of the EU in the Boeing case.
The administration of the outgoing US president, Donald Trump, in 2019 introduced customs tariffs against the EU in the Airbus case for a total of about $7.5 billion. In November, the EU announced new tariffs on $4 billion worth of imports from the US.
The ongoing trade disagreements are far from being resolved although both sides have repeatedly claimed that they intend to negotiate for a mutually-acceptable solution. Nevertheless, last month, the European Parliament green-lighted the bloc’s first tariff reduction agreement, “lobster deal”, with the US in over 20 years.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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