A few days after the adoption of the trade negotiation mandates with the United States, preparations are intensifying for the upcoming launch of these talks.
European Commission Trade Services representatives will meet with their counterparts from the United States Trade Representative's (USTR) Office in Washington next week to continue work on regulatory cooperation in a number of sectors, the European institution confirmed to EUROPE on Friday, 3 May.
They will be relayed by other senior officials during the week beginning Monday, 13 May. They will discuss with their transatlantic partners the other projects launched as part of the joint declaration of July 2018 (see EUROPE 12071/2). On the trade agenda are the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) - and more particularly the fight against unfair trade practices in non-Member States (see EUROPE 12104/12) - as well as US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and soya to the EU.
The parties will also prepare the next meeting, scheduled for "in the coming weeks", between European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and her counterpart Robert Lighthizer.
The EU and Washington "are taking a new step forward in the implementation of the positive transatlantic trade agenda adopted by Presidents Juncker and Trump in the Joint Declaration adopted in July 2018", the Commission stressed.
These exchanges between experts follow the adoption by the Council of the EU in mid-April of the negotiating directives on the elimination of tariffs on industrial goods and conformity assessment (see EUROPE 12234/19, 12175/1).
The European Commission reiterates its conviction that "strict implementation of the various aspects of the work undertaken under the Joint Declaration will be beneficial to both sides and could help to address the current challenges of the multilateral trading system". (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)