US, EU agree to ease trade tensions

> Both to negotiate details on slashing tariffs, subsidies, barriers

WASHINGTON: The US and the European Union (EU) agreed on Wednesday to ease trade tensions while continuing to negotiate the details of a far-reaching agreement that would slash tariffs and other barriers to trade.

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced the outlines of the deal after a White House meeting.

Trump said the two sides would “work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods”.

“We will also work to reduce barriers and increase trade in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products, as well as soybeans,” he said in the White House Rose Garden.

The deal has similarities to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership trade deal, which stalled during negotiations in 2016 between Washington and Brussels.

Trump last month slapped tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU, which responded by imposing higher import taxes on US$3 billion (RM12.2 billion) worth of US goods ranging from peanut butter to whiskey and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

The US and the EU will set aside trade tensions during talks, with a working group of “our closest advisers” to begin work immediately to achieve their shared goals, according to a joint statement.

“This of course is on the understanding that as long as we are negotiating – unless one party would stop the negotiations – we hold off further tariffs and we reassess existing tariffs on steel and aluminium,” Juncker said.

It was not immediately clear if the recent tariffs would remain in place. “We’re starting the negotiation right now,” Trump said.

European governments and EU officials yesterday hailed the Trump-Juncker deal as a major success.

“Breakthrough achieved that can avoid trade war and save millions of jobs! Great for global economy,” tweeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economy minister, Peter Altmaier.

In Paris, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France welcomes EU trade discussions with Washington but does not want to enter into a wideranging negotiation and feels any deal should be reciprocal. – dpa, Reuters