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The truce in the transatlantic trade dispute is receiving much praise, especially in Germany. Let's start now the difficulties of negotiation.
European cars will not be burdened with higher duties in the United States at the moment. (Focke Strangmann / EPA)
As one of the German prime ministers of the economy, Peter Altmaier replied: Soon after the agreement, US President Donald Trump and the Commission President European Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday in Washington congratulated him on Twitter for a negotiated outcome that avoided a trade war and saved millions of jobs.
A few hours later, the German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, spoke: "Yesterday, Europe proved that it could not be divided and we saw: Si Europe seems united, our word has weight. "Meanwhile, the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI) has spoken of an" important sign of relaxation ". most of the expectations clearly exceeded.The two parties agreed, among other things, to work for zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies for non-automotive industrial products. reducing trade barriers for services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and soybean To diversify its energy supply, the EU wants to buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United States, he added.In addition, a di Alogue on standards has been agreed to reduce bureaucracy and both parties want to work together to initiate reforms of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
While most of these issues may require lengthy negotiations with uncertain results Understanding in a sort of truce in the trade dispute: While we are working on the projects mentioned, we will "do nothing against the" 39 spirit of agreement, "it is said in the statement, unless one of the parties ends the negotiations. Juncker said during a joint appearance with Trump, that they will not be raising new duties during this period. This concerns especially the additional tariffs on cars threatened by Trump. Notably, they hit the German car industry with sensitivity. This explains why Germany has been particularly strong in the search for an agreement and why the applause is particularly strong.
The gun remains
According to the statement, both parties also want to "solve" the problems of steel and aluminum tariffs (already introduced by the United States) and against -measures (in response to these). The "gun on the temple" of the Europeans, of which they had always complained bitterly these last months, did not really disappear, the prices of the steel not being raised and the in case of failure of the talks, the duties of the car may still come, Nevertheless, the EU is now ready for discussions on the other issues mentioned, thus softening its previous position. "The threat remains – it is very regrettable and not a good basis for concrete negotiations," said Bernd Lange, chairman of the trade committee in the European Parliament and SPD MEP
. Both parties had already discussed in the context of the TTIP negotiations from 2013 to 2016, and some points about what the European Trump leaders had already offered in May, but to no avail. The delicate agricultural trade of the EU and the liberalization of public markets, which are important for Europeans but not for Americans, are not included in the declaration, with the exception of soybeans.
The difficulty comes first
Yet, all this is nothing more than a statement of intent. For most issues, the EU Commission may need a mandate from its member states to engage in formal negotiations. And the difficult TTIP negotiations, suspended for the White House decision in late 2016, have shown how difficult some of these issues are on both sides. After all, there seems to be a less comprehensive range of topics and a less ambitious deal.
According to Juncker, the EU wants to build more terminals to introduce more LNG. But the gas must then also find buyers and Anthony Gardner, US ambassador to the EU until 2017, immediately pointed out that this gas is not competitive at current prices. At the moment, it is also unclear how the EU wants to increase soybean imports from the United States.
The Juncker-Trump meeting hopes that the two largest economies in the world will engage in constructive negotiations to reduce trade barriers rather than threatening each other with tariffs and counter-tariffs. Gabriel Felbermayr, director of the Center on Thursday together. Such negotiations could contain potentially conflicting issues, so the trade conflict can not be clear. But the results of the summit would save valuable time
You can follow the Brussels correspondent René Höltschi on Twitter .
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