After receiving a favourable opinion from the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 26 October (see EUROPE 12589/10) to impose sanctions on the United States in the Airbus/Boeing dispute, the EU has announced that these retaliatory measures will take effect as of Tuesday 10 November.
Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis announced on 9 November that the EU would match the sanctions imposed by the US last year in the Airbus dispute.
The amount of sanctions authorised by the WTO is USD 4 billion, or EUR 3.4 billion. This includes additional tariffs of 15% on aviation and 25% on a range of agricultural and industrial products imported from the United States. The list published on 9 November includes, for example: salmon, cheddar cheese, chocolate, ketchup, and dozens of other products.
This comes in response to the 25% tariffs imposed by the US on certain EU imports such as wine, cheese, and olive oil. The duties applied directly to Airbus aircraft were increased to 15% last March (see EUROPE 12448/24).
After receiving the endorsement of the Member States on these sanctions, Commissioner Dombrovskis and German Trade Minister Peter Altmaier stressed that lengthy negotiations with the United States to avoid these retaliatory measures had been conducted without a successful outcome. “We call on the United States to mutually agree to abandon existing sanctions on both sides, with immediate effect, in order to leave this conflict behind us”, said Commissioner Dombrovskis.
At their informal meeting by videoconference and in the context of the future change of administration in the United States, the European Trade Ministers underlined their willingness to relaunch discussions with the United States on new trade relations.
See the list of products affected by the customs duties: https://bit.ly/3naRtsS (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)