On Wednesday 3 September, the members of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) will examine the details of the agreement reached between the EU and the United States on customs duties (see EUROPE 13689/1). They will also be examining the two proposed regulations published on Thursday 28 August by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13697/4) to lower or even abolish tariffs on a number of American products.
In this regard, the Chairman of the INTA Committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, German), has already warned that he will not sign “a blank cheque for eternity” to grant American products greater access to the European market: “Either it [the regulation, editor’s note] has a time limit, so that it has to be reviewed when it is extended, or we set a strict revision clause”.
He also called for a suspension clause in the event of a breach of the agreement by the United States, which the Commission did include in its proposal for a regulation. “We must remain able to act in all circumstances and be able to modify our customs duties in good time, if necessary”, he insisted in a press release on Thursday 28 August.
Like many of his parliamentary colleagues, Bernd Lange regrets the asymmetric situation that characterises customs tariffs on both sides of the Atlantic.
While the agreement is disappointing, it at least avoids a generalised rate of 30% on European exports and 27.5% on vehicles in particular. This is why the Chairman of the INTA Committee is not criticising it in the strongest terms, but rather calling on the United States to honour its part of the agreement and not to go back on the agreed tariffs: “If the trade partnership between the EU and the United States is to continue and deepen, the constant threats, particularly with regard to EU legislation and regulatory law, must come to an end”.
On the part of the European Commission, Vice-President Teresa Ribera called on the EU to be courageous and not to allow Donald Trump to blackmail it, in an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday 29 August. She even warned against “the temptation to become subordinate to the interests of others”.
Also next week, it will be the turn of the Member States to give an initial assessment of the agreement and the first stages of its implementation: the experts on the EU Council’s Trade Policy Committee will meet on Thursday 4 September, and relations with the United States are on the agenda. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)