The US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and the US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, will be in Brussels on 23 and 24 November, where they are due to take part in the meeting of EU trade ministers on the 24th. Their presence will be an opportunity for the European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič, to try to push forward discussions to liberalise more trade between the EU and the United States.
The European Commission and EU Member States are currently preparing a list of European products to submit to Washington for possible exemption from tariffs, two sources confirmed to Agence Europe. The list could include goods such as wines and spirits, food products and medical devices, according to Politico.
Another issue in transatlantic relations concerns the treatment of European steel and aluminium and their by-products exported to the United States. The EU is still trying to convince the US administration to lower tariffs on these products, but discussions are stalling.
On Monday, the Member States will be keen to make their US counterparts understand that the EU, for its part, is honouring the commitments it made in the joint EU-US declaration, and doing so quickly. As proof of this, the EU27 are expected to adopt their position shortly on the regulation exempting a list of US products from tariffs (see EUROPE 13697/4).
The technical work on the text has been completed and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes to submit the draft regulation to the Member States’ permanent representatives to the EU for approval as soon as possible.
In its position, the EU Council is expected to adopt the list of products proposed by the Commission and the broad outlines of the regulation. The Member States have proposed strengthening the safeguard clause in the text. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)