Biden eases war with EU over trade; to face Putin
BRUSSELS/BEIJING: US President Joe Biden on Tuesday moved to end a long-running dispute with the European Union over subsidies for aircraft manufacturers, a major breakthrough in the US-EU trade relationship that comes on the eve of his highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
The announcement that the two sides reached a major resolution in a 17-year dispute over how much of a government subsidy each can provide for its aircraft manufacturing giant - Boeing in the United States and Airbus in the EU - came as Biden met with European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels.
With the move, Biden eases a major point of tension in the transatlantic relationship at a moment he’s seeking to marshal widespread European support for his efforts to counter Russia prior to his Wednesday meeting with Putin.
US trade representative Katherine Tai told reporters that the agreement calls for a five-year suspension of the aircraft tariffs, and stressed that it was time to put aside the fight and focus on China’s economic assertiveness.
“Today’s announcement resolves a longstanding trade irritant in the US-Europe relationship. Instead of fighting with one of our closest allies, we are finally coming together against a common threat,” Tai said. “We agreed to work together to challenge and counter China’s nonmarket practices in this sector in specific ways that reflect our standards for fair competition. “
China says US is ‘very ill’, slams NATO statement
China lashed out at the US, calling the country “very ill indeed”, after Biden secured support from his European allies to present a more united front against Beijing.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian criticised Biden’s efforts during summits of the G7 and NATO in recent days. “The US is ill and very ill indeed,” Zhao told reporters in the ministry’s first news briefing since the G7 meetings in the UK. “The G7 had better take its pulse and come up with a prescription.”
China took particular aim at NATO, after secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was “concerned by China’s coercive policies, which stand in contrast to the fundamental values enshrined in the Washington Treaty” on which the bloc rests. Stoltenberg cited China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal, military cooperation with Russia and its use of disinformation.
The Western alliance has “inflicted war and turmoil on the world,” Zhao said, raising the 1999 bombing of its embassy in Belgrade. “That is NATO’s debt of blood to the Chinese people,” Zhao said.
It’s overwhelmingly in the interest of the USA to have a great relationship with NATO and the EU.
JOE BIDEN, US President