Joe Biden hailed deal with European Union over Boeing-Airbus dispute as containment measure against China

United States President Joe Biden on Tuesday agreed to a five-year deal with the European Union (EU) to suspend tariffs over the dispute between the U.S. Boeing and European Airbus in return for support increased against China.

“We have agreed to work together to challenge and respond to China’s practices in an industry that gives Chinese companies an unfair advantage.Biden said in a note, for whom he is a “model” in the face of “other challenges posed by the Chinese economic model.” The message was shared after a meeting with the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and of the European Council, Charles Michel

Biden arrived in Europe on his first trip since arriving at the White House defending the United States returning to multilateralism and traditional allies, after Donald Trump’s tenure, but during his G7 days in United Kingdom and Brussels with NATO partners, their fixation has been China. In this sense, the president made it clear that the United States wanted to return to its allies to form a united front against Beijing.

And that’s what he pointed out at the start of the summit with European leaders. “America is back and that’s why we’re hereSaid Biden, who stressed that Europeans are their country’s natural allies because of the values ​​they share. He also warned that they are “more and more attacked”, in reference to the advance of China.

To convince the EU to back the US, Biden caved in on the tariff issue in the Boeing-Airbus dispute, but his government has already said it will not make any announcements this week regarding taxes on aluminum and steel inherited from the Trump Mandate (2017-2021).

On the Boeing-Airbus dispute, US Secretary of Commerce Katherine Tai explained on a call with reporters on Tuesday that the agreement with the EU plans to extend the suspension of mutual tariffs by five years, starting from 11 July. However, Tai warned that his country will respect the suspension “as long as the EU’s support for Airbus is in line with the terms of the deal”, meaning it does not cross any “red lines and American manufacturers can therefore compete fairly “. path “.

Despite this display of goodwill, Biden owes it to his constituents and, in that sense, Tai stressed in his statements that his government is dedicated to “supporting Boeing” which means “supporting high paying jobs and a chain of solid home supply “.

“The aerospace industry employs around 500,000 workers directly and 700,000 indirectly,” noted the official, who noted that Boeing has around 140,000 payroll employees across the United States.

The agreement with the EU includes another point of particular interest to Washington: “overcoming disputes with China”. In this regard, the two sides pledged to collaborate in “a meaningful way to deal with investments in the aviation sector by non-market players in our economies,” Tai said.

The Airbus-Boeing dispute is one of the longest in the history of the World Trade Organization (WTO): it started in 2004 when the claims process began for the grants awarded by both parties to these two large companies.

The WTO declared such aid illegal and in 2019 allowed Trump to impose retaliation on EU products worth $ 7.5 billion (€ 6.172 billion). A year later, the EU responded by imposing tariffs on US exports worth $ 4 billion (€ 3,292 million). Last March, the US and the EU agreed to suspend these tariffs for four months, until July 11, to give time to negotiate a solution.

Beyond this pact, the US-European summit led to the creation of a business technology council to counter Beijing’s advances.

An official in the Biden administration told reporters that the fundamental notion behind this advice is that “the United States and Europe laid the foundation for the global economy after WWII (…) and now we must work together to write the rules that will guide the path of the next generation, especially in the economy and emerging technologies“, Remarked the manager.

This body will be responsible for coordinating standards for new technologies, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and biotechnology, as well as the “resilience” of supply chains, and the control of imports, exports and products. investments, among others.

The American official assured that the council will serve to “establish an affirmative vision of the world, anchored in shared values” in the face of “Beijing’s important challenge with its practices outside the market”.

In this sense, he said it is important for the US and the EU to coordinate closely to face the competition from China.

After his stay in Brussels, Biden will travel to Switzerland to participate this Wednesday in his long-awaited face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Poutin.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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