As of Wednesday 18 March, the United States will increase the level of tariff duties imposed on aircraft imported from the European Union from 10% to 15%.
In mid-February, Washington announced the adjustment of its retaliatory measures, which have been applied since 18 October 2019 under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) arbitration in the transatlantic trade dispute over the Airbus aircraft manufacturer (see EUROPE 12352/16). These new measures consist mainly of a 5% increase in tariff duties on imports of European aircraft (see EUROPE 12427/10).
The 1 month deadline that the American authorities had granted could not be used by the European Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, to seal a "mini-deal" with Washington (see EUROPE 12431/4), perhaps also because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"While the coronavirus is testing the resilience of the global community, the Trump administration finds it necessary to fan the flames of the trade war", lamented Christophe Hansen (EPP, Luxembourg), EPP group spokesman for the European Parliament's International Trade Committee. He added: "It's an irresponsible and dangerous distraction from the fight that really matters today".
For some, the new tariff measures could have been tougher. In Brussels and in the European chancelleries, it was feared that Washington would decide on new taxes on agri-food products, already largely targeted by the first package of sanctions (see EUROPE 12446/11). (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)