The EU Commission has proposed reducing tariffs on industrial goods, including vehicles, in trade with the US. A new edition of the failed transatlantic free trade agreement (TTIP) was not the goal, stressed Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström today in Brussels. For agricultural products, nothing would change, they should not be exempt from customs duties.
Rather, the EU is about reducing tensions in the trade dispute with the US, said the EU Commissioner. Efforts for a free trade agreement had failed after the takeover of US President Donald Trump.
Easier market access
In addition to the negotiating mandate, the EU Commission also presented a draft for a „certificate of conformity“. It aims to ensure that other barriers to trade are also removed and that companies on both sides of the Atlantic are more likely to meet the relevant technical standards for market access.
With a trade volume of just under 600 billion euros, European companies would benefit from the reduction of trade barriers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, said Malmström. Destruction of tariffs will affect vehicles and fishery products, but agricultural goods will not.
Malmström referred to the meeting of EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump last summer in Washington, where this had been recorded. Trump has repeatedly threatened European automakers with an increase in US import duties.
