The acting US Representative to the European Union, Ambassador Ronald J. Gidwitz, said on Monday 22 June that his country is not expected to be among the third countries for which the EU should reopen its external borders on 1 July.
“The opening will be reciprocal. It is likely, as we are lagging behind the EU in terms of the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic, that our borders will open later, and therefore you will open your borders to us later”, he explained to EUROPE, while specifying that it was possible to put in place guarantees, to carry out tests to ensure that travellers are not ill.
“Given the persistence of the infection in part of the United States, at least part of the United States, perhaps all of the United States, for the coming period will be closed to protect travellers from the rest of the world”, the ambassador added.
However, “incredibly important” tourism on both sides of the Atlantic could be a way to revive the global economy after the pandemic, Mr Gidwitz said, citing the hospitality and airline sectors.
As US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (see EUROPE 12464/1) told EUROPE, the ambassador expressed optimism that the EU and the United States would work “together in a meaningful way” to reduce the economic damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “We can easily identify areas where we need to work together to ensure that our two economies are engaged in a common interest”, he added.
However, Mr Gidwitz did not fail to point out that trade with the Union was not balanced and that, despite the efforts undertaken in July 2018 by President Trump and the previous President of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, this deficit was growing. According to him, the trade balance deteriorated last year by an additional $15-20 billion to $179 billion and continues to worsen. “It is imperative to have an adjustment in trade relations”, both with the EU and with China, he said.
Returning to the lack of agreement between the EU and Washington, the ambassador recalled that there was “a series of difficult issues to resolve” and was sceptical about the launch of trade talks before the US elections on 2 November.
Yes to an EU-US dialogue on China
Furthermore, when asked about the proposal by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, to create a transatlantic dialogue on China (see EUROPE 12506/7), the Ambassador personally supported it. As far as he is aware, discussions on the subject are under way in Washington.
“I hope that we can organise a summit with the EU to jointly address issues involving China. [...] We are much more comfortable in partnership than alone. If the United States and the EU – the world’s two largest economies – were to come together and focus on the issues that concern China, whether it is human rights, military aggression or the whole range of issues that we jointly have problems with, I think it would give us an opportunity to help China change its behaviour in a constructive way”, he said.
The Ambassador also cited theft of intellectual property, subsidies to state-owned enterprises, predatory lending behaviour and the shipment of counterfeit goods as reasons for European-American cooperation on China. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)