The US has stepped up pressure on Germany and France with extra tariffs on some of their goods, a move designed to squeeze the EU into settling a long-running dispute over illegal subsidies to Airbus SE.
In a statement in Washington on Wednesday, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said that it is removing from the tariff list certain products from Greece and the UK, and adding an equivalent amount of trade from France and Germany.
The change, which takes effect Sept. 1, would apply to French and German fruit preserves, as well as mincing and butchers’ knives, which would be subject to a 25 percent duty.
Photo: AFP
“The EU and member states have not taken the actions necessary to come into compliance with WTO decisions,” US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in the statement. “The United States, however, is committed to obtaining a long-term resolution to this dispute.”
The amount of products subject to countermeasures remains at US$7.5 billion, while the tariff rates stay at 15 percent for aircraft and 25 percent for all other products, the agency said.
Sweet biscuits were exempted in the latest review and Britain’s gin industry was spared tariffs that the US had included on a list of potential targets, but duties on another big UK spirits industry remained.
“I welcome the decision not to impose tariffs on gin and blended whisky, and to remove tariffs on shortbread. But there are still tariffs on goods like single-malt Scotch. These tariffs are in no one’s interests. I am in further talks with USTR to remove them ASAP,” British Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss wrote on Twitter yesterday.
Airbus said that it “profoundly regrets” the US’s decision to maintain the tariffs, despite Europe’s actions to achieve full compliance “at a time when aviation and other sectors are going through an unprecedented crisis.”
“Airbus trusts that Europe will respond appropriately to defend its interests and the interests of all the European companies and sectors, including Airbus, targeted by these tariffs,” it said in a statement.
The announcement prolongs the burden of import taxes on US businesses and consumers, while increasing the pain on transatlantic allies just as the global economy tries to claw back from a steep downturn tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.
US retailers, restaurants and importers that are struggling to stay afloat after nearly six months of restrictions and lockdowns had pleaded with the USTR for tariff relief.
“There is clear evidence that the US beverage alcohol industry has been negatively impacted as a direct result of these tariffs, which is now being compounded by the impact of restrictions related to preventing the spread of COVID-19,” a group of US trade associations wrote in a letter to the USTR, one of nearly 24,000 public comments submitted in the case.
The administration of US President Donald Trump won a long-awaited judgment from the WTO in October last year stemming from a dispute between Airbus and Boeing Co that dragged on for more than 15 years. The ruling authorized tariffs on a record US$7.5 billion in European imports.
The EU is waiting for a WTO decision to come as early as next month that might allow for retaliation against the US. Brussels has asked for its own multibillion-dollar award in a separate case that found that Chicago-based Boeing received illegal subsidies.
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