The fourth meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was held in the Swedish city of Luleå on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 May. The two partners demonstrated their unity on a number of subjects dealt with within the TTC, ranging from cooperation on 6G to the fight against the anti-competitive commercial practices of certain third countries.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who co-chaired the meeting, highlighted the “remarkable convergence” between the EU and Washington “on major challenges”. Asked about the two partners’ respective approaches to China, Mr Blinken said: “None of us are looking for confrontation, for a cold war and none of us are looking for decoupling. We all benefit from trade with China, but we are all focused on de-risking”.
The two sides initially took a different approach in the joint statement, in which Washington called for strong, targeted language on China’s unfair trading practices (see EUROPE 13190/21, 13189/9).
The participants in the TTC also offered reassurance with regard to the other issues that have long divided the EU and the United States: US Trade Representative Katherine Tai recalled the regular work she is doing with European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to reach an agreement on steel and aluminium before the October 2023 deadline. To this end, the two parties are due to meet again in person next week.
Work is also underway on the agreement between the two transatlantic partners on critical minerals, according to Mr Dombrovskis. This partnership will resolve the thorny issue of access to certain subsidies under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The next step will be to obtain a negotiating mandate from the EU Council. “We want to move forward quickly”, said the Commissioner.
The TTC participants also highlighted the various results achieved at this fourth meeting of the TTC, “one of the richest and most productive”, according to the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo.
Trade
According to Valdis Dombrovskis, the TTC is already helping to boost transatlantic trade and investment. This work has led, for example, to the publication of transatlantic recommendations on trade and forced labour.
Progress has also been made on the transatlantic initiative on sustainable trade, with the publication of a work programme appended to the joint EU-US statement (see EUROPE 13189/9).
The meeting on 30 and 31 May also saw the signing of an agreement on the mutual recognition of good manufacturing practice (GMP) for veterinary products. This will allow European and American manufacturers to export to either bloc without additional inspection.
Facilitating conformity assessments in numerous sectors between the EU and the United States is one of the TTC’s stated priorities, which Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis regularly mentions. “We are committed to going further to facilitate trade, including through the use of digital tools to help SMEs in particular”, he said.
Technology
Further proof that the TTC is delivering concrete results, according to participants, is that the EU and the US have agreed on common standards for charging systems for heavy electric vehicles. This should reduce manufacturing and deployment costs, according to the European Commission.
In the field of 6G, the two partners have published their joint vision (‘6G outlook’) in which they detail the main guiding principles for the development of 6G and future joint work in this sector.
The European Commissioner for a Europe fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, highlighted another of the TTC’s successes: the work on a future code of conduct on artificial intelligence (AI). “We’ll advance a draft of an AI code of conduct [...] to have very soon a final proposal for a code of conduct for industry to commit to voluntarily”, she said. She went on to say that this would be useful insofar as legislation in this area would only be effective in a few years’ time.
Disinformation
In addition to their joint statement at the end of the TTC, the EU and Washington issued another statement on the manipulation of information by foreign powers. They detail actions to combat interference from third countries. Russia is mentioned as a country using such practices.
View the document: https://aeur.eu/f/756
The next TTC meeting is scheduled to take place in the United States in the second half of the year.
View the joint statement from the fourth TTC meeting: https://aeur.eu/f/758 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)