Paris, 05/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - Speaking of transatlantic trade competition on Thursday during a seminar organised by the former students of several prestigious colleges (Polytechnique, ENA, HEC), French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine stressed the differences between the economic and commercial policies of the EU and the United States, and above all the liberties taken by Washington with regards competition.
"It would be illusory to believe that this difference will disappear fast, even though there will inevitably be a process of rapprochement", he declared. Speaking of the tension between the two sides of the Atlantic, Hubert Védrine felt that the "American administration is a formidable machine for distributing aid, promoting its companies on international markets and protecting them from competition". He specified that the United States uses "complex and subtle procedures where the Old Europe uses export refunds for agricultural products or reimbursable loans for its aeronautics programmes". He continued by saying: "the United States subsidises its farmers in substantial proportions ($5.5 billion in emergency aid voted in 2001), it is condemned by the WTO for its export aid tax regime which gives it an estimated advantage of $4 billion, it massively supports its aeronautics and military industries with public orders and through aid to research that would make European industrialists pale with envy". The minister also deplored the policies aimed at giving a boost to American companies and the pressure carried out at the request of lobbies: "It is allowed not to applaud with both hands when the US President decided unilaterally, under pressure from the steel lobby, to impose surtaxes of up to 30% on imports. And how can one assess the pressure currently being put on the Korean government to force it to choose a less successful but costlier fighter plane than that which it could obtain from a European rival", he asked.