On Wednesday 6 March in Washington, where she met her counterpart, Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative, as part of the Executive Working Group, Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Trade, called for a new transatlantic trade partnership.
In a speech on the same day at Georgetown Law School, Ms Malmström said that “the international system as we know it today was built […] on a US vision”. She highlighted the common role of the United States and Europe in building the multilateral system, which “has underpinned global growth for decades, and lifted millions out of poverty”.
The Liberal Commissioner therefore renewed her call to Washington for the United States to join the EU once again to work together to address new challenges facing the multilateral economic order and, in particular, the Chinese economic model.
A work programme that involves redeveloping the World Trade Organization, she said. Welcoming some American efforts in support of this reform, the European Commissioner said she hoped “that the US leads the way in global institution building again”.
“Now I propose that we embark on a new project together”, she said, "the next transatlantic project – one that will guarantee stability and prosperity for the next generation”. “I propose that we renew our global order for the 21st century – with the WTO at the centre of the transatlantic partnership on trade”, she added.
Finally, returning to the destabilising factor posed by the Chinese economic model to the multilateral order, she also called on Beijing to work hard to find solutions.
In addition, the European Commission announced on Friday 8 March that European imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) continue to grow. Since the end of July 2018 and the joint statement by Presidents Juncker and Trump, these imports have increased by 181%. For example, in January 2019, imports amounted to 1.3 billion cubic metres, compared to 102 million cubic metres in January 2018. With a share of 12.6% for the last 6 months compared to 2.3% before the joint statement, the United States is the third largest LNG supplier in Europe.
The Commission also announced that the first EU-US High Level Energy Forum of the Energy Council will be held on 2 May 2019 in Brussels. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel with Camille-Cerise Gessant)