On Monday 15 April, the Council of the European Union formally approved the two mandates of the European Union to negotiate trade agreements with the United States on industrial products and conformity assessment, despite opposition from France and abstention by Belgium (see EUROPE 12234/19).
“Europe is ready. Once we start, I think it can go quite quickly”, said Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, assuring that she would do everything possible “to finish talks before end of mandate” of the Juncker Commission at the end of October.
The Commissioner considered that the mandates adopted by a qualified majority of the Member States respond to the concerns expressed by both France and the European Parliament, which had not succeeded in adopting a position on these mandates (see EUROPE 12214/4).
“Agriculture will definitely not be part of the negotiations. It's a red line”, she stressed, referring to the transatlantic roadmap drawn up at the end of July 2018 by Presidents Jean-Claude Juncker of the Commission and Donald Trump of the United States (see EUROPE 12071/2). The same applies to “public procurement”. Ms Malmström added that “TTIP is in the freezer”, stressing the “limited” nature of the upcoming transatlantic negotiations.
According to the Commissioner, the future agreement on the elimination of tariffs on industrial products will be “win-win”: it should allow the EU to increase its exports to the United States by 8%, and the United States to increase its exports to the EU by 9%.
These negotiations will have to take into account the sensitivity of energy-intensive products and fisheries, as well as the environmental impact resulting from differences in the regulatory framework between the EU and the United States. The Commission is committed to assessing the potential economic, environmental and social impacts of the future agreement, taking into account the EU's commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.
It will be done “this year”, Ms Malmström promised.
France refuses to negotiate trade agreements with countries that oppose the Paris Agreement. Belgium abstained from voting in the margin of the Agriculture Council due to divergent positions of its regions. Flanders is more in favour, while the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia are more against.
The negotiating mandate on industrial products also ensures that the EU will not conclude negotiations with the United States as long as current tariffs on EU steel and aluminium exports are in place, says an EU Council statement. Europeans will also be able to unilaterally suspend negotiations if Washington imposes new trade restrictions on European products.
The agreement on conformity assessment aims to make it easier for companies to prove that their products meet the technical requirements of both the EU and the United States.
Other negotiations, which do not require the adoption of mandates, are taking place in parallel, with the Commissioner referring to the “pharmaceutical and medical devices sector”, as well as practices in the field of “standardisation”.
Germany, which fears that the United States will impose customs duties on European car exports, described the formal adoption of mandates by the EU Council as a “breakthrough”. The aim is to “avoid a trade dispute”, said German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, according to a statement.
See: – negotiating directives for industrial products: http://bit.ly/2UFyi0P; – negotiating directives for conformity assessment: http://bit.ly/2VMicic. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)