Brussels, 14/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - After Bush's conspicuous exit from the Oval Office and tension due to his administration's threat to step up US sanctions as a retaliatory measure to the ban on importing beef with hormones into the EU, transatlantic trade relations are easing slightly thanks to the efforts of reconciliation by Catherine Ashton and Ron Kirk. Taking advantage of the agreement which, mid May, had allowed the old transatlantic dispute over hormoned beef to be settled (EUROPE 9896/9903), the European commissioner and US trade representative agreed, during a meeting in Washington on Monday 13 July, that bilateral contacts should be stepped up in coming weeks and months and that pragmatism should be employed to find solutions which, in their eyes, would “bring meaningful economic benefits to workers, consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic”. Both officials are expected to meet again at the end of October for a new session of the Transatlantic Economic Council.
Among the contentious subjects that the European Commission and the Obama administration hope to resolve, Ms Ashton and Mr Kirk are above all looking at systematic tests on shipments of American long-grain rice intended for the Community market in order to ensure that they are free of all traces of biotech rice that is authorised in the United States but banned in the EU. They also tackled the question of the EU complaint filed at the WTO against the United States concerning Article 110 section 5 of the US Copyright Act relating to music licensing, and gave instructions to their services to examine new options in this respect. They agreed to initiate practical dialogue on the trade implications of chemicals regulation in the United States and the EU. They also tackled the dossier on online gambling and the complaint filed at the end of 2007 by the RGA (association on online gambling) against US measures that run counter to the interests of foreign online gambling and betting companies (EUROPE 9919). Finally, Ms Ashton and Mr Kirk discussed the relentless effort being made by the EU and other EU member states to find an agreement on the terms of the Community regime for banana imports. On this dossier, the Latin-American countries, supported by the United States whose multinationals have an interest in their plantations, accuse the EU of imposing taxes that are too high on their bananas and of giving preference to bananas produced by ACP countries or in European overseas territories, such as the Antilles. (E.H./transl.jl)