The draft report by Bernd Lange (S&D, German) on the elimination of tariffs on a whole list of US products was given a positive reception by the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA), on Tuesday 4 November. The rapporteur and Chair of the INTA Committee hopes to have his report adopted by all his colleagues in January or February.
During the debate, MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups welcomed the amendments proposed by Bernd Lange (see EUROPE 13737/7). The logic of the amendments is to rebalance transatlantic relations by imposing stricter conditions on the reduction of European customs duties.
“It is clear that the joint declaration (between the EU and the US, editor’s note) alone will not guarantee stability. That is why I welcome the rapporteur’s rebalancing”, said the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the United States, Brando Benifei (S&D, Italian).
Within the EPP group, however, Željana Zovko (Croatian) expressed concern at the rapporteur’s desire to remove steel and aluminium products from the list of US goods exempt from European tariffs. This could “undermine mutual trust and delay progress towards resolving long-standing issues”, she said.
In the same vein, her Swedish colleague from the Renew Europe group, Karin Karlsbro, questioned the relevance of a safeguard clause in the text, which could also undermine the agreement reached between the EU and the United States in July.
On the other hand, a number of MEPs, such as Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, German) and Benoît Cassart (Renew Europe, Belgian), indicated that they will table amendments to further restrict the concessions made on US products, out of concern for the EU’s credibility and in order to limit unfair competition for European producers.
The rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee on Budgets also warned of the loss of revenue associated with the elimination of tariffs, estimated at €3.6 billion. “Trade peace is important, but it should not be achieved at the expense of Europe’s financial stability”, said Danuše Nerudová (EPP, Czech).
The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets and Committee on Agriculture will submit a draft opinion on this regulation.
Another sign that the rapporteur’s stance should convince a majority of MEPs is that, on Tuesday 4 November, the INTA Committee adopted a draft opinion for the Committee on Foreign Affairs report on transatlantic relations which goes in a similar direction to Bernd Lange’s amendments. For example, the MEPs maintain that the agreement is asymmetrical and that its provisions are totally unbalanced.
They also make the elimination of tariffs on US industrial products and the opening of access for agricultural products conditional on the successful implementation of the commitments made by the United States, “including a further reduction in tariffs, in particular on steel, aluminium, copper, wine and spirits”.
See the compromise amendments adopted for the INTA Committee’s draft opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/ja5 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)