European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis told Reuters that he had a positive exchange with Brian Deese, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, last week. Nevertheless, the EU is waiting for the Biden administration to appoint its Trade Representative in order to begin discussions on the punitive tariffs currently in place.
In December, U.S. President Joe Biden had declared that he intended to appoint Katherine Tai to the post. She still has to be confirmed by the Senate, possibly at the end of February. According to Mr Dombrovskis, the likelihood of positive engagement with the new U.S. administration is “very high”. The EU’s proposal, for the time being, is for both sides to withdraw the tariffs related to the Airbus/Boeing dispute or at least suspend them for 6 months.
The European commissioner also welcomed the reversal of the United States’ stance on Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination for the post of Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This country was the only WTO member to block her candidacy under Donald Trump’s presidency. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)