EU seeks lasting agreement with the US, negotiator says
The European Union is insisting that any agreement reached in the trade dispute with the US government must be permanent.
"If we reach an agreement, it cannot be the case that new tariffs are imposed just a few days later," Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's Trade Committee, told Deutschlandfunk German public radio.
If a stable solution cannot be found, the EU is prepared to impose counter-tariffs, Lange asserted. "We will not allow ourselves to be pressured or blackmailed," the EU negotiator added.
Lange is currently in Washington for talks with the US government.
The two sides have until July 9 to reach an agreement. If they fail to do so, US President Donald Trump wants to impose high tariffs on EU imports.
Although the federal Court of International Trade had declared almost all of the tariffs imposed by Trump under an emergency law to be illegal, a US appeals court recently temporarily overturned the decision.
According to Lange, this is a transitional arrangement until the matter is finally clarified. He stressed that customs policy is a matter for the US Congress and should not be subject to the whims of the US president.
The EU continues to seek an agreement and has offered higher imports of liquefied natural gas and semiconductors, he pointed out.
On the question of possible concessions on the part of Europe, Lange said that the removal of certain tariffs and the mutual recognition of standards could be discussed. However, European legislation – for example on food, chemicals or in the digital sector – was not negotiable. He cited the ban on hormone-treated beef as an example.
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