US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan announced on Friday 21 August, an agreement to eliminate tariffs on a range of American and European exports. These are the first tariff reductions negotiated between the United States and the European Union in more than two decades.
The agreement provides for the EU to eliminate tariffs on imports of live and frozen lobsters, retroactive to 1 August 2020, on a most-favoured nation (MFN) basis. According to the Commission, American exports of these products to the EU amounted to more than 111 million dollars in 2017.
This exemption will be valid for a period of five years, but the Commission will initiate the necessary procedures to make it permanent.
For its part, the United States will reduce its tariffs by 50% on certain products exported by the EU, including certain prepared dishes, crystal glassware, propellant powders, lighters and lighter parts, with an average annual trade value of 160 million dollars.
These tariff reductions will also be made on an MFN basis and will be retroactive from 1 August 2020.
Describing the agreement as “mutually beneficial”, Mr Lighthizer and Mr Hogan expressed their intention to reach “additional agreements that create more free, fair, and reciprocal transatlantic trade”. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)