The European Union (EU) takes steps to hit American goods worth $4 billion with tariffs as a form of retaliation against United States (US) plane-maker Boeing.
Last month, the World Trade Organization endorsed the imposition of taxes on some imports from the US into the EU. The WTO gave the go-ahead for this decision to take effect from Tuesday.
The European Union said it still hoped to settle the persisting fight amongst the two leading airlines, which saw the US impose tariffs on European products last year, instigating a retaliation from the European Union.
A trade official said Joe Biden’s election could help “reboot” talks.
European Union Trade Commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis has intimated that the European Union wanted to see both sides, now remove the tariffs, which are a result of a long-running feud over state support provided to US Boeing and European rival Airbus.
“Removing these tariffs is a win-win for both sides, especially with the pandemic wreaking havoc on our economies,” Mr. Dombrovskis said.
“We now have an opportunity to reboot our transatlantic co-operation and work together towards our shared goals,” Mr. Dombrovskis added.
Long-running fight
The fight over aircraft subsidies for United States Boeing and European rival Airbus has been long existing even before Donald Trump’s tenure in office, but trade tensions between the two traditional allies have grown particularly strained during his tenure, as evidenced in the recent imposition of taxes on $4 billion worth of US goods by the European Union.
Last year, the WTO said the US was justified to retaliate against the European Union on $7.5 billion worth of goods for support granted to Airbus. Also, in October it made a similar ruling in favour of the European Union over support offered to Boeing.
In recent months, both the European Union and US have taken steps they say, to correct the offending programmes.
However, Mr. Dombrovskis holds that there had been no progress toward a settlement, things keep worsening by the day.
“We have made clear all along that we want to settle this long-running issue. Regrettably, due to lack of progress with the US, we had no other choice but to impose these countermeasures,” Mr. Dombrovskis opined.
The European Union tariffs will affect American aircraft, agricultural produce and industrial goods posing serious implications on the US economy coupled with the current coronavirus pandemic which has caused most economies to cripple with accompanying job losses. A recent resurgence months after economies reopened and were gradually picking up makes it more waring.
