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US President Donald Trump calls it "a fantastic day for free and fair trade". Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, speaks of a "good constructive meeting". Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also reacted positively to the outcome of the case.
But the clarity of the details must still follow. That's what we now know, based on the joint statement:
It was agreed:
- The United States and the European Union will talk about removing all trade barriers, import duties and subsidies on industrial products.
- The United States and the EU also intend to abolish barriers in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products and soybeans.
- The European Union will import more liquefied natural gas and soy.
- The two parties will unite to modernize the World Trade Organization
- Brussels and Washington want to abandon the import tariffs set during the trade conflict.
This is not the case:
- For the moment, the current rates just exist. This means that the United States continues to collect taxes on European aluminum and steel. European import duties on American products such as jeans and motorcycles also remain in force
The most important is that import duties on European cars be avoided – which would bring a blow particularly heavy in the European automotive sector. German Chancellor Angela Merkel even said in advance that such taxes would signal a "real trade war".
In concrete terms, the European Union promises to import more liquefied gas from the United States. This is not a big concession: the European Union wants to become less dependent on Russian gas for a long time. In addition, it was obvious that the import of American soybeans would increase as a result of Trump's other wider trade war, the one with China.
The agreement of Trump and Juncker comes back to the conversation and together table to eliminate trade barriers. This has been the case in recent years, when negotiating the TTIP free trade agreement. Trump was a fierce opponent of this treaty.
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