Daily Management Review

Malmström: EC does not exclude new US duties on cars and is preparing a response


10/05/2018


The European Commission does not exclude the possibility of the United States imposing new duties on automotive products imports from the European Union, and is preparing to respond to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in this case, said European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström at a press conference after the informal meeting of EU trade ministers.



libereurope
libereurope
"If duties on cars happen..., it certainly can happen, we are preparing and are in dialogue with the EU countries. In this case, we will also have a list of products that will be much longer (than the list of EC in response to US duties on steel and aluminum) because it covers a lot more trade. This list is being prepared, we have not completed it yet. We still hope that this will never happen. But if this happens, we are ready and we told the US that we will take action, "she said.

In summer, the European Commission introduced the so-called rebalancing measures - additional 25% duties on imports of certain goods from the US totaling about 3 billion euros to the EU - in response to the increase in the United States import tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Europe.

This is one of the measures taken by the European Commission under the WTO rules in connection with the actions of the United States. The list includes, in particular, steel and aluminum products, agricultural products (among them orange juice, whiskey, rice, tobacco products) and some types of clothing.

The new EU duties were supposed to be in effect as long as the new US tariffs on steel and aluminum products from EU countries are in effect.

It is worth noting that the United States and the EU agreed in July to refrain from imposing new duties for the duration of the trade negotiations.

source: reuters.com