EU hopes for breakthrough on trade at next week’s EU/US summit

Ahead of the G7 and EU-US summit, Economy Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis briefed MEPs on the forthcoming EU/US summit. The summit will address global trade issues, but as part of a trust and confidence-building measure, the EU hopes to resolve at least some of the current EU/US trade disputes. 

Commission and Council Presidents Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel will meet the US president on 15 June in Brussels. The EU expects its relations with the US to be reinvigorated and aims to build a common agenda covering trade, the economy, climate change, as well as other mutual foreign policy concerns based on shared interests and values.

The EU hopes that the summit can deliver a more positive trade agenda and a renewed commitment to collectively addressing the challenges stemming from non-market economies. 

Dombrovskis said: “We want to make a decisive progress to resolve our bilateral debt disputes on aircraft and the US tariffs on steel and aluminum. On the latter, we sent a clear signal to the US on our willingness to solve this issue in a fair and balanced way, by suspending the automatic doubling of our legitimate countermeasures.  It is now for the US to walk the talk.”

On the more global outlook, Dombrovskis said: “We also hope to forge an alliance with the EU to cooperate on the World Trade Organization reform. We need to bring that global trade rulebook to the date, helping us to address many challenges we face.”

The EU and US will also discuss closer co-operation on green and digital technologies. To that end, the EU has proposed to establish a Trade and Technology Council to deliver transatlantic leadership in this area of trade. 

As part of his first visit to Europe, Joe Biden will arrive in Brussels ahead of the summit to meet with the NATO heads of state or government the day before.

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