Brussels, 15/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will be in Brussels on Tuesday for meetings with European Commissioner Pascal Lamy. He is urging the EU to lift its trade sanctions, imposed following the dispute over the US Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) export subsidies case. Zoellick explains that the amendments made by the US Congress last week to tax legislation (see Europe of 13 October, p.9, and yesterday, p.10) are compatible with WTO rules, meaning that once President Bush has signed the new law (which will then come into force immediately) there will be no reason for the EU not to lift the supplementary import duties it has been applying since March this year (which rose to 12% in October), said Zoellick in a press release.
Lamy explained this week that the European Commission will first carefully consider the new US legislation and it is premature for the moment to talk of lifting sanctions. The Commissioner made a connection between the FSC affair (where Boeing is one of the biggest recipients) and planned aid for Airbus and Boeing (see yesterday's Europe, p.10).