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Brussels – The EU obtained "excellent results" Wednesday at the White House, including the non-application of US taxes on European automobiles, but we must beware of any triumphalism because no agreement has been reached , detailed Thursday in Brussels a senior European official.
" We are not yet at the level of an agreement, for which it will require negotiating directives from the Council of States (ie the Council of the EU) ", said to journalists this senior official on condition of anonymity.
" But the EU has achieved excellent results without jeopardizing its essential interests, nor any of its values nor any of its laws ", he badured, the day after the US-EU trade deal announced by Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker.
" President Donald Trump wanted an agreement because there is enormous pressure in the United States against the trade war, but one must beware of all triumphalism Nothing is engraved in marble ]warned the European leader.
" The Joint Declaration (…) removes, if not eliminates, the danger of a major commercial war caused by additional tariffs on European cars in the name of the national security of States States "he explained.
A high-level working group will be formed " in the coming days " with advisers from the US President and the EU Chief Executive to discuss the possibilities of reducing tariffs on industrial goods between the EU and the United States.
He was instructed to submit a report in 120 days, so end of November, after the important mid-term elections that will take place on November 6 in the United States.
" As long as the parties negotiate, US tariffs on automobiles will not be enforced ," said the European official.
The two parties further " the desire to find a joint solution for US tariffs on steel and aluminum and for European countermeasures that are beginning to have effects ", he added.
But these negotiations will not be a resurrection of the unpopular free trade pact TTIP (or TAFTA), now frozen, with a single global agreement, but rather ad hoc agreements, said the same source.
– Soybeans, gas –
The agreement announced on Wednesday provides for an increase in European purchases of soya beans and liquefied natural gas (LNG). " This is a declaration of intent, no commitment on the part of the EU ", according to the official.
" The European Union is not a Soviet economy, it can not impose purchases on private actors, these imports will be made under market conditions ," he insisted. .
The EU imports 30 million tonnes of beans and soybeans each year and its three main suppliers are Brazil (14 million tonnes), Argentina (8.4 million tonnes) and the United States ( 5 MT).
The Union is not going to import more soy, but under market conditions. However, American soybean prices have fallen by almost 15%. " The EU could therefore be able to import more American soybeans ," explained the official.
These conditions are also applicable for US LNG if it becomes competitive.
But for this, it is also necessary to remove the US administrative obstacles that are the export licenses issued by the Department of Energy, argue the leaders of Brussels.
" These export certificates are not issued automatically and therefore the buyers have no guarantee that US deliveries will not be interrupted ," said the senior official.
The United States exported 17.2 billion cubic meters of gas in 2017, of which 2.2 billion cubic meters of LNG by LNG tankers to EU terminals. Now " Europe's total natural gas import capacity will increase by 20% by 2020 ", according to the IHS Markit Study Center.
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