While the US Trade Representative touted, in an appearance before the US Senate on 27 April, the four-month mutual suspension of tariffs between the US and the EU (see EUROPE 12672/1), business stakeholders want more.
In a letter sent on Thursday 29 April to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, they ask for the permanent removal of these customs duties, which were put in place in the context of the Airbus/Boeing dispute and which affect the wine and spirits sector.
“We strongly urge the EU and the US to intensify efforts towards securing the permanent removal of retaliatory tariffs on products unrelated to the sectors subject to ongoing transatlantic trade disputes and to avoid new additional tariffs. This would create the necessary certainty and stability needed to grow the transatlantic economy as it recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic”, they detailed in the letter.
With the four-month period coming to an end on 11 June, the ‘Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins’ (CEEV), also a signatory, is calling, in particular, for the tariffs to be lifted until further notice, pending an agreement on the issue between the US and the EU.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/3e5mAVd (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)