European Commission Releases Progress Report on EU-US Trade Talks

The European Commission released a progress report on the EU-U.S. trade talks, saying “concrete actions” have been taken that take the two sides’ “relationship to the next level,” the commission said in a July 25 press release. Since talks officially began one year ago on July 25, the commission said, the EU has “significantly increased” imports of U.S. “liquefied natural gas” and soya beans but also mentioned some roadblocks in negotiations. The commission said it wants to begin negotiations on “eliminating” U.S. tariffs on industrial goods, but “it was not yet possible to launch negotiations in this area due to diverging objectives on the two sides. The commission also said the EU “continues to make the case for ending U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium,” which would lead the EU to “remove the rebalancing tariffs on U.S.exports.”