Following the prolongation for a month, until 1 June, of the exemption for the EU from the US customs duties of 25% on imports of steel and of 10% on imports of aluminium, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday 2 May that the EU member states should entrust European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström with a clear mandate to negotiate with Washington. "Of course, it is important that these exemptions are not granted for a limited time period", Merkel said during the visit to Berlin of Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, giving assurances that Germany and France had "a very united position that involves considering the US measures as unjustified and wanting a long-term exemption".
Saying that the EU was "facing a difficult situation requiring a fair solution in the negotiations between Europeans and Americans", Germany's Economy Minister Peter Altmaier meanwhile let slip on Wednesday that it was as difficult to define a common position with France as to formulate an offer to the USA. "The two are equally difficult. The EU needs to agree on what it is ready to discuss", he said in German media.
Targeted by Trump in the current transatlantic trade tension due to its trade surplus with the USA, Germany is working in the corridors to negotiate a wide-ranging agreement with Washington on a decrease in customs duties for a wide spread of products, particularly in industry, and especially the automobile industry.
France's Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire meanwhile said on Thursday 3 May that the discussions with Washington on global overcapacity in the steel and aluminium sectors and other transatlantic trade issues would only continue on the condition of a permanent exemption for the EU from the US customs duties on these products.
"We cannot accept being the victims of the trade war between the USA and China. We want a total and definitive exemption. This is the crossing point required and without it there will be no discussions or negotiations with the Americans", Le Maire underlined.
"Things are very clear (...) We must be united and firm in the face of the USA, and give one and the same message", he added, saying he had spoken to Altmaier and Malmström.
On 18 April, Malmström had demanded "a permanent and unconditional exemption" for the EU from the US customs duties on steel and aluminium, "before envisaging discussions on other issues of transatlantic trade" (see EUROPE 12004).
To settle the issue, Malmström and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross opened a dialogue process on 21 March concerning the transatlantic trade disputes – with the possible establishment of a working group – but this has so far produced nothing concrete (see EUROPE 11986, 11988).
The European Commission and member states talked in the corridors in April about discussions to be planned with the US administration – once the definitive exemption is confirmed – on the lowering of customs barriers on certain products or other regulation issues.
In response to Trump's demands for better access to the EU market for US cars, Malmström gave a long list, in March, of EU trade grievances, especially targeting US restrictions to public procurement access (see EUROPE 11990).
During the European Council on 23 March, several European leaders stated they did not want talks with the US for a 'TTIP-lite' trade agreement that would just include the treatment of tariff barriers (see EUROPE 11989).
The TTIP negotiations that were started in 2013 are now at a standstill, following the departure of Trump's predecessor at the White House, Barack Obama. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)