- “So we have concluded that we have done an analysis. And so whenever we feel that the time is ripe to proceed to measures concerning that list, if you want the the administration is ready to do that. And um, president von der Leyen kept on saying that everything is on the table. So indeed, I can also confirm that the administration is practically ready on also considering measures that do not cover, um, goods. Yeah. Um, the second point is that we have to continue deepening the partnerships with like minded countries. So we have to continue talking to other trading partners that are also on the receiving end. And what is very, very important is that, of course, we must go much further than just talking. So we need to move forward decisively with the trade agreements which have been finalized and need to be ratified, and bring ongoing negotiations to conclusion and fruition. You have heard over the weekend that president von der Leyen has reached a political agreement on the negotiations with Indonesia, with the president of Indonesia. And, of course, you know, that we have concluded the preparatory work to be able to present the agreements with Mercosur and the modernised agreement with Mexico to the Council and the Parliament to conclude these agreements.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Asia-Pacific
- “We can discuss at length about whether the notion of good faith, not good faith, and so on. Good faith is a principle of international law that was already used at the Roman at the Roman times. So, you know, at a certain moment, we have to be clear that we can give all kinds of interpretations. But when a panel. So professional lawyers will have to look at whether the conditions are met or not, of course they will refer to all the things that exist. The questions of the support to the ILO conventions is exactly the same thing. We have decided to offer the agreement with Mercosur and with other agreements in support for the implementation of the ILO agreements. Now, if the provisions are not sufficient, and we decide and you decide that the agreement with Mercosur should not be ratified, then what are we going to be better off with the implementation and the ratification of the ILO conventions? Of course not. The experience that we have so far, because at the end of the day, this whole policy on sustainability is not is a bit new. The experience that we have and what we want to do is not an automatic system where you don't respect the ILO convention, a sanction, you know, is to be able, first of all, to know when there are questions. And this is what the text of the sustainability chapter says. Because we create domestic advisory groups, we create the possibility to bring complaints and so on.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights)
- “So how does it work for the imports of products that are subject to standards in the European Union? For example, if you take the question of the exports of beef, only certain establishments in Brazil and Argentina that have been listed, which are listed in European legislation, are authorised to export to the European Union. Not only that, but of course, there is a system of checks and but also these countries have to accept that there are auditors from the European Commission that go there, verify individual establishments and decide whether the establishments continue to have the possibility to export to the European Union. So the system is extremely tight. There is no importation of hormone traded beef. There was a question about estradiol, which is something that is used in in cows. As soon as it was found. And by the way, this was found with the help of the Brazilian authorities, that there was a case that we would have an issue immediately. The imports of these animals have been stopped and there has been no, um, there has been no import of estradiol treated beef. There is, however, a question indeed is that in the European Union, you and the Council on proposals from the Commission have legislated very much in terms of the Green Deal, in terms of standards and so on and so forth.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “So it's very important to see this in this in this respect, the safeguard is indeed temporary because when the transitional period is concluded. The understanding between the parties is that then we should be in a situation that has reached a certain balance. I was told that we should change our software, and that farmers and agricultural products do not respond to normal rules of offer and demand. We fully agree with this, and this is precisely the reason why the liberalisation under the agreement is in the form of tariff rate quotas and why we have all these forms of protection. If we believed that everything was fine, we wouldn't have proposed these various provisions. There was also a an interest in the accumulated effects of the various agreements. You may know that the Commission is very sensitive to this point, and that on a regular basis, it updates a study which is done following the highest scientific approaches, where it studies the cumulative effect of the various FTAs that are in force and the FTAs that are under negotiation and what these studies show. Year after year, is that these agreements are actually good for the agrifood systems in Europe because we are strong. There are many problems, and the many problems have been acknowledged, notably in the communication on the vision for agriculture. But when you look at the trade balance of the European Union in agri food products, this is a success story.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU · Export of EU agri-food products
- “But if the rules of the UN not respected, there cannot be imports. This news that there is estradiol in the consignments. Indeed, this is extremely regrettable. But what has been the reaction? The reaction has been not a safeguard. The reaction has been to remove the consignments from the market. So if a product does not respect the sanitary phytosanitary rules of the EU, if the product does not respect whatever rules exist from an environmental point of view for putting products on the market, then the products are just not put on the market. So there is no question of having a safeguard. So again, we have to look at these various elements together. The proposal includes the proposal. The proposal includes also the possibility to look as to when there is a concentration of imports in in one or several member states. Having said all this, and finally the levels, the famous 10%. But this is not the general rule. The general rule is that there is an investigation that starts when there is evidence of serious injury. Now the criticism was too generic, so we said, fine, if this is too generic, which is not, because there is a lot of jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice that defines what serious injury is. We said, fine for the most sensitive products, we're going to use an indicative level of the 10% so that no matter whether there is a proof of injury or not, the Commission will consider that there is a presumption that there is the the basis to start an investigation.”
Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “But two is the possibility to cooperate together. So okay, there is a problem with Labour. Inspectorates let's have a discussion about Labour Inspectorates. This is something that we can do in the agreement. It is not something that we can do in the absence of an agreement. Final question about the non violation, the non violation provision. The long answer to this is one. The text does not oblige to us to change the legislation. It's written black and white in the text. Two it is a bilateral provision. So it's not that Mercosur is allowed to sue us if we do Green Deal legislation, but we also can go to Mercosur and say that we're unhappy about a certain number of things. It is based on the fundamental principle of legitimate expectations. It has a very high threshold for being used. And in any event. In case there is no solution that is found in consultations with the other party. The effects would be that there would be compensatory measures, but they would also have to maintain an element of preference. The short answer is that the non violation complaint mechanism exists in the Gut since 1947. So since 1947, those member states that were contracting parties to the GATT and those member States that have subsequently become contracting parties to the GATT and members of the WTO have been able to do the entire European Union without problems from that point of view. And I will stop here. Thank you.”
Trade relations with Mercosur
- “But indeed, if the serious injury occurs when the level is not 10% but lower or higher, then of course it is the general rule of the serious injury that that applies. Um, the example of the kerrygold butter is is wonderful. Um, the tariffs on dairy products in Mercosur will be slashed from 30% to zero thanks to the agreement. So the producers of Kerrygold butter will either be able to sell more, or actually have to pay less to ensure indeed, that this wonderful butter is exported into Mercosur. Finally. Unsafe indeed and safe indeed. Um, the finally, uh, Mr. Chairman, just, uh, one thing about amendments. Uh, I beg the committee to try to avoid amendments which are contrary to whatever legislation already exists, to have amendments that actually contradict the, um, the clause that has been negotiated, because you will have a say when you do the consent on this, uh, on this, uh, agreement. And finally, indeed, if you could do this quickly, I think this would be very welcome for the Commission. Thank you very much.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Export of EU agri-food products
- “The Commission initiates an investigation at the request of a member state or the union industry. Thirdly, as I said, this regulation provides for a specific approach for sensitive products which are listed in the annex. These are the products that are under Trq Trqs under the. Under the agreement and under the approach basically, it commits the commission to have a faster initiation and a faster conclusion of any safeguard investigations. First of all, the commission will initiate investigations without delay. Also, in the absence of a request by a member state or by a complaint by the industry to evaluate the actual or potential future injury without delay. For example, if there is something that appears from the monitoring reports that have just mentioned, the Commission will also have to conclude the investigation faster for sensitive products than for any other products within a maximum of four months rather than six. And these time frames are, in any event, much faster than the normal safeguards we are used to. The Commission will also be mandated to adopt provisional safeguard measures within three weeks in case circumstances are critical. There is also some more specific guidance on how the commission intends to consider whether there is a situation of serious injury or threat of serious injury. And this is that without contraindications, the The Commission would consider that the conditions are met to initiate an investigation when the average import prices for imports of sensitive products on preferential terms is at least 10% below the average EU domestic price, and one or both of the following conditions are given year on year.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much for the various for the various questions. I'll try to go in the order. I may digress a little bit. Um, so indeed, the steel and cars measures are enforced by the US, and, um, my colleagues tell me that on, uh, steel at 50%, uh, duties, the additional amount of duties that we would be paying on a daily basis would be, uh, €13.7 billion, whereas for cars, um, it would be something like €18 billion. Okay, so these are these are the figures for you. Um, what are the plans to involve the European Parliament? So, um, for the time being, the various countermeasures are still one and two. Possibly. Also, additional countermeasures are based on the um enforcement regulation from a legal point of view, which allows the Commission to adopt implementing acts. Um, despite the legal situation, we have consistently made the best efforts to keep the European Parliament involved. So, uh, yeah, it might be that we run the phones sometime, uh, at the end of July, that we send emails sometime at the end of July. Uh, now, if, uh, if anybody in the Parliament wants to call a meeting, a monitoring group, a formal meeting of inter whatever, we shall be there because we have ensured that, uh, we will be, uh, in various formations in Brussels. Um, my colleagues have been working literally day and night, uh, since the Um, taking off, uh, duties of the president. And we will continue to be to be there.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “So the question is not when are you going to use the anti-corrosion instrument. The question is, is it opportune for the defence of the EU interest to adopt measures that in the EU legal system, can only be adopted under the anti-corrosion instrument. And the answer to that question is we are looking at everything. Everything is going to be on the table and we will decide when the time comes whether we need to use also the anti-corrosion instrument. Um, can we, um can we can I confirm that we're not accepting the 10% baseline? Yes I can. We have told the Americans that the negotiation cannot be about them keeping their baseline and also doing all the movement. This is an agreement. This is a two way street. This is a negotiation. So it has to be a two way street. So we have clearly not accepted the baseline as we will not accept the announced, uh, potential new baseline of uh, 30% now. Um, I hear that the commission is not able to get the negotiations done with us. I wonder how many other countries have been able to get the negotiations with us through the through the line? Nobody. There has been an agreement in principle with the UK. That is still up to see what has happened. And there has been a de-escalation with China. That's it. That's it. That's it. So the reality is that I think, again, Commissioner Shevchuk must have told you in the plenary that this is a negotiation like no other.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “Finally, it is not true that international trade is the appendage of big multinationals. When I was dealing with investment policy a long time ago, I remember that there were studies from the Unctad. So not the Commission, not the world Bank, the Unctad, that were indicating that the vast, by far the vast majority of companies that trade are small and medium sized enterprises. This, as a matter of fact, is the best indication of why it is so important to trade on the basis of rules. Because when you are an SME and you decide to venture in an external market without knowing the language, without knowing the rules, without knowing the practices, you must be able to rely on the rules. And this is why I was saying at the beginning that one of the important elements of this agreement is that it's going to be an agreement between two trading blocs that still very much believe in rules based trade. So this is who the agreement is going to benefit to, to the workers, to the SMEs, to the possibility of creating more economic activity in the European Union. Of course, we know that the benefits of trade are never distributed evenly. We know that. We know that certain sectors are going to suffer more than others, that some sectors maybe will not even benefit from this agreement directly.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · EU Single Market harmonisation · European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
- “So rather than talking about opacity and so on, can we please talk about the substance? I've had questions about timing and the architecture. And I can first of all clarify for Mr. Casale the procedure. The commission is an investigator for the agreement on the basis of negotiating directives from the Council and whatever indications the European Parliament gives to it. It is a responsibility for the Commission to decide, when it considers that it has concluded the negotiations on the basis of a sufficiently good deal. This is what happened in December of last year. Once the agreement is then concluded politically, there is a long process of, first of all, what we call the legal scrubbing. So we have to make sure that the text that has been negotiated actually makes sense from a legal point of view. And then of course, we have to translate the agreement. All this takes time, and this is why we have concluded the political negotiations. We have concluded political negotiations in December, and we are in June, and we still not have not been able to present the text to you simply because these procedures take time. Now, I can confirm that, um, the indication that I have is that the proposal for signature and conclusion will be adopted by the Commission before the end of this month. When this agreement is then proposed, of course, then the political debate starts.”
Transparency requirements of EU institutions
- “There is a political debate in the Council about whether the Council agrees to the signature of the agreement. Then there is a debate in Parliament as to whether the Parliament is ready to give the consent to this, to this agreement. To the question of Mr. Mariani. Of course, the Commission will take into account when it makes its proposal, will take into account the negotiating directives that it has received from the Council. It will take into account the European treaties. It will take into account the opinions of the European Court of Justice and so on and so forth. Now, will we represent the agreement in a certain architecture or not? Can I please ask for another bit of patience? Because this is a prerogative for the College of Commissioners to decide. But this is a decision that is going to come very quickly. Now, there was another question. I think it was from Madame Ma about the whole questions of standards and what kind of guarantees in writing there are in terms of of standards. There was then questions about the reciprocity of standards and so on. And I must say, without this being polemic, I can't help recalling something you, chairman, that you have been saying in relation to the current issue that we have with the United States of America. Every time we've come to the Inter Committee, we have been asked to have a confirmation from the Commission that we would not agree to negotiate on our standard.”
EU-US trade relations · EU competences on consumer protection and product standards
- “We are thinking about accompanying measures. The whole question of, first of all, I must take issue with the colleague from the the unions who said that the WTO has died. It has not died yet. It is in trouble, but it needs reform, but it has not died. So let's not exaggerate this. Um, the question of the Paris Agreement, the whole question of sustainability in trade agreements is very simple. These agreements are very powerful. And so in, um, continuous discussions politically, including with this Parliament, we have come to the conclusion that where possible, we should use these agreements. We also support other policies that look at sustainability. This is why we say that the Paris Agreement is an essential element of the agreement with Mercosur, because we want to be able to offer the power of the Mercosur agreement to also support the implementation of the Paris Agreement. And politically, of course, it also means that our Mercosur partners agree with us that the Paris Agreement is a super important agreement. Of course, it's not a game changer. Of course, the agreement with Mercosur will not automatically result in the full respect of the Paris Agreement, but it will allow us to take action. If we think that the Paris Agreement is not going to be properly implemented.”
Trade relations with Mercosur
- “So this is not something that we do in trade agreements, but it is something that we are allowed to do as a matter of our own legislation. Finally, the question of a level playing field as ambassador was saying, we already trade a lot with Brazil, with Argentina and so on. So we basically accept the question that there are products that come that do not have exactly the same quality methods or production methods in the in the EU. But fundamentally, the best way to make sure that we have a level playing field is actually not to look at how products are produced, but how much of these products are going to come into the EU. And this is why in the agreement, we have negotiated very carefully a certain number of tight tracks for the most sensitive products, because this, in our opinion, is the best way to make sure that we are not going to be faced with a flood of imports that would cause indeed difficulties for, for example, our farmers. We have combined this with a safeguard, which is the first time in our agreements, also applies to products on the tracks. And we have indeed announced and this will be part of the MFF discussions, the possibility of having a fund which rather than being a fund because we know that things are going to be bad. We have proposed a fund because we know that it is important in case there is a problem, that we can intervene, because somebody said we also have to have accompanying measures, and this is exactly what we are doing.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “And we, of course, look at as much as possible as avoiding to, to shoot ourselves in, in the foot. So we look, for example, at products where the imposition of, of higher import tariffs on our side would, uh, you know, still allow to find alternative sources of supply and so on. So the whole question of diversification. Incidentally, I cannot help but noting that the situation in which we are getting into the with you makes the conclusion and ratification of trade agreements all the more important. Um, so this is what, you know, this is the general approach. How are we going to change the list or not? I cannot answer this question yet, because we have no decision on whether we're actually going to, uh, to Who retaliate. What is important for us, and this is also something that the president has said, is that we want also our retaliation to be proportionate. Um, we continue to believe in the system of rules of the WTO. And for example, proportionality is one of the key tenets of of that.”
EU-US trade relations · EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports
- “The question of the floods of products, I mean, we've been talking about this for for a very long time. Just to note that the Commission disagrees that the agreement would result in a flood of beef or sugar, simply because the first provision that the Commission has ensured in the Mercosur agreement is that whatever trade liberalisation for sensitive products is, this is contained within tariff rate quotas. In other words, there cannot be more than 99 000 tonnes of beef fresh and chilled carcass included on the preferential terms with a preferential rate that will be distributed over several years. So, um, this is not something that would would happen. Um, and indeed the safeguard has to be seen as a safety net. The first defence is the TRC, which applies for all sensitive products. The studies that the Commission always makes on the cumulative effect of the FTAs or year on year, show that our agreements do protect the most sensitive products with the system of the attacks. The fact that we haven't used safeguards, paradoxically, is good news. It means that until now, there was no evidence that the trqs that we have negotiated in the various agreements actually failed to do their job. Um, the question of reciprocity, the question that there should be safeguards if the rules in the EU are not respected.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Honourable members. Good afternoon, dear colleagues. Yes, this agreement has been already discussed some time there was even a presentation by Commissioner Hanson and commissioner in front of this committee. We have we have talked very much about the the agreement itself. But there is an important dimension, which is this question of the safeguards. So with your permission, I will dig into into this. Like all EU trade agreements, the EU Mercosur text includes a bilateral safeguard clause to protect the markets from an injurious surge of preferential imports. The safeguard is, of course, very important, but we should remember that it is only one in at least 3 or 4 different features that are designed to protect the EU market for sensitive agricultural products. The first is the strict containment of any trade preferences within a maximum amount of imports. In other words, tariff rate quotas with a preferential rate under the Trqs, which is only progressively and partially liberalised over time. The second is a strong bilateral safeguard clause, which for the first time in the history of EU trade agreements in the Mercosur text, also applies to products under Trqs. The third is money under the Unity Safety net, which will be available to support farmers in the unlikely event of the first two. Features proved insufficient. And the fourth, of course, is the full application of the various rules that exist, whether in sanitary phytosanitary matters, whether under the Common Agricultural Policy for putting imported products on the EU market.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “Either the volume of annual preferential imports of a sensitive product from Mercosur increases more than 10%, or the average import price of a sensitive products from Mercosur decreases more than 10%. The safeguard measures can consist of a temporary suspension of the preferences, a reduction of the tariff preferences all the way up to the MFN or the base rate. The safeguard measures would be imposed for two years. They can be reconducted for another two years, so up to a total of four years. And all these specific procedures are, of course, fully compatible with the text as it has been negotiated with this legal act, The Commission considers that it fully exploits the union's policy space to implement these safeguard measures when appropriate, while ensuring compliance with its future international commitments and, of course, its existing commitments under the WTO. We have worked as hard and as fast as we could so that you could have this proposed text in front of you as quickly as possible. We will look very much forward to the European Parliament adopting this text in the shortest possible time frame. I'm here with my colleague, Director Siracusa from DG, and we will be very happy to do our best to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your attention.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “The bilateral safeguard clause in any trade agreement requires a separate legal act to define how it will be applied in EU law. Generally, this is done by adding the most recently concluded FTA in an already existing safeguard regulation by means of a commission implementing act. However, when the Commission proposed the Mercosur agreements for signature and conclusion. It also made a political commitment to propose a separate and specific legal act that would operationalise the bilateral safeguard chapter of the agreement in EU law with respect to agricultural products. This commitment was taken precisely to address the concerns that had been expressed on the operational aspects of the safeguard clause, and this is why, a bit more than a month later, on the 8th of October, the Commission proposed this regulation on the bilateral safeguard for agricultural products, which is on your table. This proposed regulation lays down the procedures to guarantee the timely and effective implementation of bilateral safeguard measures and includes specific provisions as regards sensitive agricultural products. First of all, it commits the commission to to monitor the market for sensitive products. To rapidly assess the situation, and I will come back to this important aspect and present a monitoring report every six months to the Council and the Parliament. Secondly, it specifies that a safeguard measure may be imposed when imports take place in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to union industry.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “Thank you. Thank you chair. Thank you, honourable members, for these various comments. I'll do my best to answer the various the various points of view. First of all, indeed today the commission is not asking the Parliament to give the consent to the Mercosur agreement and the clauses that it contains. Yet this happens from an interinstitutional point of view when the council decides to ask the Parliament for the consent, which, as you know, is a necessary step for the agreement to eventually enter into force. What the Commission is asking the Parliament today is to decide whether or not to adopt and what kind of amendments it wishes to see to adopt this regulation, which indeed does not change the bilateral safeguards in the agreement, but it provides the operational elements to use this safeguard under EU law. So this is the first point. The second point that seems very important to stress is that many of you have said the safeguard is insufficient. Well, yes, if you look at the safeguard in its isolation, maybe it's insufficient. And this is why I stress in my opening remarks that the safeguard has to be seen as part of a whole panoply of provisions that are intended to protect the farmers and the sensitive products. This includes the trqs. This includes the progressive liberalisation under the Trqs. It includes money. It includes the full application of the European standards when it comes to SPS controls and whatever other rules that apply for putting products on the market.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “The third thing that strikes me is the question that many of you have said the safeguard will be too late because we have to wait for a special or specific sector to be in almost destroyed. Well, this is one very important point. The safeguard allows the bilateral safeguard clause in the agreement, and this regulation allows the Commission to intervene when there is a threat of serious injury. So when the serious injury has not materialised yet, but there is a threat. How can this happen? While the privileged avenue is for farmers associations, or one or several member states to lodge a complaint to the European Commission? The second avenue for sensitive products is for the Commission to decide to act on itself, and the regulation provides that the Commission has an obligation to start an investigation when, on the basis of the monitoring, it sees that there is something that doesn't work, and the thresholds that you seem to be very interested in are actually indicative thresholds. It could well be that in a specific product, the threat of injury occurs before the famous 10% is reached. Of course it could. But what is sure is that when the 10% is reached, then the commission has an obligation to start an investigation, unless there are other indications that prove the contrary.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs)
- “Now, Mr. Chairman, again, you suspect that President Trump thinks about EU legislation. We are not in the business of second guessing President Trump or anyone. What we have told very clearly the US counterparts, and I believe that commission, which repeated this in the plenary last week or two weeks ago, the EU legislation that results from the EU choices is not up for negotiation. So this is very clear. We have made it very clear. So if. Sorry, if the United States would like to have a conversation about one or the other pieces of legislation of the of the EU. Well, this is not up for negotiation. Now, this does not mean that we cannot discuss non-tariff barriers in all our trade agreements, we discuss non-tariff barriers. We never give up on our legislation. But there are many ways to discuss on non-tariff barriers. There are ways to facilitate. There are ways to recognize certain elements, a way to go for certain elements of mutual recognition and so on. And this is this is one of the things that we are doing now, all this discussion about, are you ready to use the anti coercion instrument? Are you ready to use one or the other instruments. The anti coercion instrument is not an end in itself. I mean I understand the political value that some of you attach. The anti coercion instrument is an instrument is a legal basis that the Council and Parliament have decided to give the European Union.”
EU-US trade relations
- “Now, um, the idea for the time being of these negotiations and these are negotiations, these are not talks now. Words matter. We're not chatting with us. We are negotiating. Okay. That is very important. So the goal for the time being in these negotiations is to find an agreement in principle. So if you want an agreement on what is the scope of play, um, that we would then translate into a further, uh, agreement. So of course then when we move to, um, the discussion on an agreement where we would fully respect the interinstitutional obligations that we have as part of the treaty, um, And that will allow potentially, of course, the Parliament to to come in. Now, um, can I guarantee that the agreement will be final? What I can tell you is that we part as part of the of the request that we have made to the US. Of course, we have been arguing quite strongly about the importance of standstill because fundamentally, you know, the question, chairman, on the duties is, is very relevant. But beyond the duties, the fundamental issue, the main issue that we have is one of absence of certainty. And that is what you know, why? Again, I from time to time I come back with my with my professor hat. But why is the international rules based system so important? It is because it sets the rules of the game. It gives legal certainty to our company. So of course, what is very important for us is to achieve a situation which would provide the greatest amount of legal certainty.”
Intellectual property rights (IPR) · EU-US trade relations
- “And truck and truck parts. If the administration. If the president decided to impose duties also on these products, then it's 97% of the EU exports to the US that would be covered by additional duties. Now, as you know, the commissioner, in particular, Commissioner Shevchuk, has engaged very intensively with the with us. I think we have covered we have calculated that now we are at ten trips to Washington, DC. So far this year, without counting the phone calls and the devices and so on. And despite any stress, the advanced stage of the negotiations which we carried out in good faith, the US has a president Trump has sent this letter announcing the position of the 30% baseline duty as of 1st of August. Um, chairman, you have been on the record indicating that this letter is unjustified, unproductive, and doesn't help finding a negotiated outcome. President von der Leyen is on record saying that we have taken note of this letter that 30% of duties disrupt value chains to the detriment of businesses and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. But she has also insisted, and we have insisted also with the member states, that the priority remains to negotiate. So we remain ready to finding an agreement with, uh, with us. So again, um, you know, the priority is to remain calm, united, United and pursue the EU interest.”
State Aid · EU-US trade relations
- “How do we want to do this? In four ways. First of all, we want to continue the negotiations. There's paradoxically, a lot of time until the 1st of August. We have been working very diligently towards an agreement, um, respecting the red lines, the principled positions that we have agreed, including with you, for example, on not engaging in negotiations on the EU legislation. Um, and now we want to continue doing these negotiations. But then, of course, we have to be prepared for any scenarios. And this is why we have to continue. And, uh, the work, um, concerning, uh, rebalancing measures or countermeasures, whatever you want to call them. Um, but we have to be clear that any countermeasures must remain a means to an end and not an end in themselves. Uh, we should never forget that, uh, tariffs, whether the US impose them or we impose them remain costly for the for the economy. So what we want to do is the following. We have decided to postpone as chairman, as you were saying, the entry into force of the measures that had already been agreed with the member states. The so-called steel measures, again, because we want to keep the space for a negotiation. But we have also concluded the public consultation that we launched in in May on a package of products covering €95 billion worth of EU imports from the US.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “And then when we have the animal and we know where we're going, then of course we will. We will fully respect all the all the, uh, the obligations. Um, the. Yes. I mean, what is what is the baseline for the commission communication strategy? The baseline is again, that when you look at the whole situation and I think this echoes, for example, the the draft report from the committee that I've seen and the and the the proposed amendments from this committee. And the fundamental goal is to continue to engage. This is the biggest partner that we have, by the way, on both sides. So the net interest cannot be to start destroying the relationship. The net interest must be to continue building this relationship. And this you do through an engagement, through negotiation, through listening to what the other is telling you, and by making sure that the other is also listening to what to what you're saying. Um, Commissioner Shevchuk is involved with essentially, um, uh, Mr. Slotnick, who is the commerce secretary, and Mr. Greer, who is the USTR, and they both confirm all the time that the president is very well aware of what is being negotiated and is following this very, very closely. So I, um, uh, so this is this is a situation I can confirm that we're looking also at other sectors, not just cars and, uh, cars and and steel, for example. Indeed. Uh, we really, really would like to avoid a situation where the US administration imposes section two, three, two measures on things like pharmaceuticals, but also a certain number of other materials, uh, engines and jet engines and so on and so forth.”
EU-US trade relations
- “Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, honourable members, for the various views that have been expressed. As usual, a very instructive debate which the Commission fully takes note of. Um. The reason why we submitted this proposal for a council and Parliament regulation now before the Parliament actually receives a request from the Council to provide or not. The consent for the conclusion of the agreement is precisely because of the concerns that have been expressed by the farming community, that the safeguard clause that is included in the agreement contains elements which are not clear enough, and therefore we decided that it was important to already show now what we would think is the right way in the European Union to apply the safeguard clause to operationalise. I don't know whether this is an English term, but to operationalise this safeguard clause in the agreement. And of course, while respecting the terms of the agreement that has been negotiated over 25 years with Mercosur, the, the the regulation, the proposal for regulation goes a little bit further, especially when it comes to elements of monitoring, so that it is clear what is going on on the market and the treatment of the most sensitive products. So I think this is this is something very, very important. Of course, the commission, when it makes a proposal, it always hopes that the proposal be adopted without any changes.”
Trade relations with Mercosur
- “We are strong in agri food. We should not be afraid. Um, this agreement of course, improves considerably the market access for the European Union because it reduces tariffs very significantly, it protects an unprecedented number of geographical indications and so on. It is a modern agreement in terms of sustainability, because in addition to the various elements that we find in other agreements, um, for the first time in relation to the Paris Agreement, we have agreed not only that the respect of this agreement is an essential element of the Mercosur agreement, but this extends also to the obligation of the parties or to the possibility of the parties to leave the Paris Agreement, which is not something that we have put in any other agreements. In addition, it is the first agreement that contains a certain number of binding obligations in terms of deforestation, which must be seen in combination with the own decisions and policies in Mercosur. And the ambassador mentioned what Brazil is doing, but also, of course, the body of autonomous legislation that the EU has been developing, in particular the EU deforestation regulation. So I wish to stress that this agreement is not about free trade. It is about having more trade in line with the rules we have. And in some fields, like sanitary requirements, the European Union has the strongest rules in the in the world. This agreement is about having a forum to discuss how to make our trade more sustainable, more resilient, more diversified, which is of course, extremely important in the current geopolitical environment. I look very much forward to hearing the views from the other stakeholders. Thank you very much.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Trade impact on forests · Free trade agreements (FTAs)
- “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What we will not do to please you. First of all, thank you very much for organizing this panel. The commission has come in front of this committee and the Parliament in general, in other committees, several times to present the negotiated outcome in that was achieved in, in December last year. So I will do my best to not repeat many of the things that have been said already, and note that we welcome very much the possibility to listen to the views of a number of stakeholders about this agreement. I would like to make a number of points. First of all, let's be clear, EU trade agreements and certainly the EU Mercosur agreement are not just about economics in this increasingly confrontational world. The interest of the European Union is to partner with countries so that we can rely on each other and we can work to achieve something meaningful together. Trade agreements and the Mercosur agreement in particular, are prime ways to build and strengthen communities of shared values. And of course, the bond between the European Union and Mercosur is one of the strongest in the world, based on a shared cultural and historical heritage. But also because today we are two blocks of trading nations that continue to believe that rules based trade and cooperation are engines of progress and prosperity. The second point that I want to make is that, of course, this agreement is also about economics. It offers us the unique opportunity to better integrate a market of 700 million consumers, and to build on the strong position that the European Union already has in Mercosur. The ambassador was recalling that this agreement will not result in some kind of a big bang.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Asia-Pacific
- “Thank you. First of all, I would like to thank very much. All the speakers and all the honourable members for the various points that have been made. Uh, it clearly shows that, um, the political debate that we'll start formally soon, um, is going to be a very important one for the European Union that you in the European Parliament, the representatives of the member states in the Council will have a very big political responsibility in deciding whether or not we will be able to sign and then implement, give life to this agreement. Um, I would like I will try, uh, to, uh, to, to go through some of the points, maybe react and do my best to answer some of the questions. I think the first thing that strikes me is the question about who is going to benefit from this agreement. And there I would like to recall a number of figures. First of all, the European Union GDP depends on something like 20% on external trade. Trade is one of the biggest elements that define the wealth that the European Union member states are able to produce every year. And this percentage is actually much higher than in a certain number of of other trading partners. Yeah. The second point is that we have in the EU more than 30 million workers, I think, is 34 million workers that depend directly on external trade and the studies and the analysis that we have made show that generally the workers that work in sectors which are directly exposed to external trade actually tend to have better jobs and better paid jobs.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains · European Globalisation Adjustment Fund
- “So to your question, chairman, there are no Uh, problems. Um, but these products, when they are exported to the EU, they do not benefit from the preferences. And this explains why we reckon that our estimate is that the, um, imports of goods from the illegal Israeli settlements could amount to less than 0.9% of the total Israeli exports to the EU, or something like 138 million. But we have to take these figures with a pinch of salt. Um, the differentiation, um, policy is underpinned by a technical arrangement, and there is a system of um, of labelling that allows to identify these products when they cross border. Um, the um, now, um, a number of, of things. Um, first of all, indeed, we're talking about two articles. We're talking about article two, which is included in the Association Agreement, and my colleague from the US will discuss this. And we're talking about article 79, which is part of the trade, part of the agreement, which essentially lays down the procedures for addressing alleged breaches of the agreement. So it would be, under the agreement, a legal basis for taking action. And this article establishes several steps to follow. If you consider that Israel is not fulfilling its obligations, the matter should first be discussed in the Association Council and then only afterwards if if a solution cannot be found, the EU could consider taking appropriate measures.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Relations with Israel - Palestine
- “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, honourable members, for the various views that you have expressed, which, of course, we have duly noted in terms of the framework for the bilateral relations with Israel and the differentiation policy that we apply for trade and with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. Um, I would like to recall that indeed, the association agreement includes the establishment of a free free trade area that eliminates customs duties on industrial products. Um, it doesn't concern it doesn't include, sorry, commitments on services and investments. Israel is indeed the EU's third largest trading partner in the Mediterranean region. We are the first partner of Israel. The bilateral trade in goods in 24 was slightly above 42 billion. With a 700 million trade surplus in the EU's favour. Unlike with other countries in the region, it is industrial products that dominate the um the trade um in line with international law. The European Union has a long standing policy of not recognising Israel's sovereignty over the territories occupied since June 67th. So the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them as part of Israel's territory irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law. And it is on the basis of this territorial consideration that we differentiate between imports from Israel and those originating in Israeli settlements. Goods originating from Israeli settlements do not fall under the scope of the Association Agreement, and therefore they do not benefit from any preferential access in the European Union.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Relations with Israel - Palestine
- “These appropriate measures have not been defined in the agreement, presumably to allow the maximum latitude to define what they would be should an event occur. But of course, I cannot speculate on what a possible appropriate measure would be, because indeed. And I think that these are the my answer to a number of comments that have been made. Um, the decision on taking action following a breach of article two is clearly a, um, common foreign and security policy matter. It is not a commercial policy matter. We're not in a situation where Israel is breaching the free trade area provisions. We are in a situation where Israel, according to the situation, would be in breach of another obligation. Um, I am comforted in this view by several comments that have been made by several members that, for example, have made a parallel to what happened with the sanctions on Russia, which are clearly sanctions based on on CFSP. Now the sanction went then into trade territory, but the procedures and the decision making, and the political handling of this has been done under the CFSP. Provisions. And I will stop here and leave my colleague from the eyes to address the. Points on article two with your permission.”
EU-Russia relations (from March 2022) · Relations with Israel - Palestine
- “And certainly we do think that timing now plays a role, and therefore it would be very good for us if the Parliament indeed decided to adopt this proposal without amendments. But of course, this is your own, your own decision, which we would fully respect in whatever decision, in whatever direction it goes. Um, a few comments, if I if I may, Mr. Chairman, on some of the points that have been made, I heard, um, some saying, well, we could amend the proposal by providing for faster investigations. The commission has looked at this, and it has made a proposal which would allow for the fastest conduct of safeguard investigations ever for the most sensitive products in situations which would be dramatic. The proposal is to impose provisional measures within 21 days. In other words, in between two inter meetings you would have the provisional measures imposed. There is the question of this is too late. We will have to wait for the bankruptcy of farmers to take place. This is not true. The definition of serious injury also includes the question of threat of injury. So it is perfectly possible for a member state, even a small one, to come to us saying, I have a fear that there will be a problem. Commission, can you please start an investigation? Of course, we are going to look into that.”
Agricultural trade: Ukraine imports
- “And rather than starting, you know, flexing further or muscles on all kinds of of measures, because we don't really see what this would what this would bring. We don't think that this is, um, you know, that that this makes us look weak. It makes us determined to achieve what we want to do, which is a negotiated, a negotiated outcome. Now, I had an indirect question on on what we would be negotiating. And I can confirm that indeed we have a certain number of elements that we're negotiating with us. There is a tariff angle that covers both the so-called universal baseline tariff, but also seeking a solution on the sectoral tariffs. And for the time being, the two sectoral tariffs that worry us the most is, of course, the ones on cars and the ones on steel. But we're also talking about pharmaceuticals because we're very worried about the ongoing section two, three, two investigation. And then of course there is also a discussion on non-tariff barriers, but I was saying it's not a question of us removing or changing our legislation is a is a question for us to find things that we can do together with us to the benefit of, of our companies so that we simplify the trade with, um, with us. Um, and I hope I have answered all the questions. Otherwise, if you let me know, I'll be happy to come back to one or the other. Thank you.”
EU-US trade relations
- “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. Honourable members, should I say good morning? Good afternoon, good evening. Depending on the time zone that is listening to us. Um, so a quick a quick recap of the preceding episodes. Um, I always start with the obvious that we should never forget that the United States and the European Union share the deepest, widest, strongest economic, trade and investment link in the world by far. Um, it's, uh, the transatlantic relationship is, uh, is an artery of world trade. Makes up 17% of EU trade. Now we have the new US measures in place in terms of the level of duties, we are now faced with 50% on steel, aluminium and derivatives, 25% on car and car parts, plus the MFN duty and a now 30% 10% universal tariff. For the time being, that President Trump, as you know, has indicated in a letter that it would go up to 30% on the 1st of August. These levels of duties tackle cover 70% 70% of the EU exports to the US. In other words, 380 billion. But there are a certain number of ongoing investigations by the US administration under the section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. There's seven now in total, which cover commercial aircraft, jet engines and parts. Pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals. Copper, timber and lumber.”
EU-US trade relations · EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports
- “We already trade a lot with the Mercosur countries. Eu exports in 2024 reached 53 billion. Mercosur exports to the EU reached 57 billion. We have mentioned several times that already today we import 200,000 tons of beef from the Mercosur countries. But what is important is that, of course, this agreement is expected to boost trade. But most much, much more importantly, this agreement will ensure that the additional trade that takes place, it takes place on a grid rules and provides a basis to cooperate on matters of great importance between us. Because this is what agreements do, this is what trade agreements do. They create a platform for cooperation. Look at the EU CET agreement. There was the summit between the EU and Canada yesterday. Since the entry, the provisional entry into force of this agreement, we have not stopped to find new areas of cooperation with with Canada and there is no reason why we should not be able to do the same with Mercosur. The third point is that if one zooms in, of course we have been repeating this. This agreement is balanced. It will benefit all the sectors of economic activity in the in the EU, the industrial activity, but also the agri food, um, activity. And talking about busting myths. Like the ambassador was saying, this agreement is not one where agricultural concessions have paid for market access in other sectors. It instead strikes a very cautious balance between the EU offensive and you defensive interest in agri food. And I must recall that the European Union is a net exporter in agri food.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “But the general outcome of this agreement is that it will allow to create more economic activity, more jobs, and on the basis of common rules. The second thing that I wanted to say is that I've heard some of the members, um, you know, mentioning the question of opacity, allegedly, or the fact that there is only a selection of stakeholders that are heard. Now, I want to recall that in terms of opacity, um, and the colleagues have sent me, um, the, the figures, um, from um, in the 2019, 2024 period, the commission has appeared in 14 monitoring groups, ten other committees other than into and we had over 40 bilateral meetings with interested members of the Parliament. And we are still today always ready to continue the discussion with you. So if any of you wants to have a discussion on any of the elements of the agreement, you have our commitment that we will come to your offices and we will be able to continue the discussion in terms of engaging with other stakeholders. The Commission has a practice of DG trade as a practice of holding civil society meetings, and we've had countless number of civil society meetings where we have heard not just the big companies, but also the NGOs, also the unions, also the other elements of the civil society that want to tell us things. And this openness continues to apply. Finally, we have always published the results of the negotiations, and I can say that DG trade, the European Commission is probably the most transparent trade organization in the world.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Transparency requirements of EU institutions · Transparency requirements for interest groups
- “Whereas here for Mercosur, whereas exactly the contrary, that we impose on our partner countries a certain number of standards. So what is the notion of sovereignty? Is it just our sovereignty that we are expected to impose on everybody else? Or is it a question of accepting that my sovereignty stops where the sovereignty of my trading partner starts. And of course, what is important, however, is that my sovereignty is not put into question. And this is exactly what we have done in this agreement. And as we have done in all trade agreements. We have not reduced in one inch the level of protection for health, for safety and so on, that we have as a matter of European legislation. So you cannot look at the agreement and then take conclusions without also looking at what kind of European legislation applies. So the best guarantee in writing that I can give you is what the European legislation says. And I defy anyone to indicate what in the Mercosur agreement or for that matter, in any other agreements that the EU has concluded with trading partners. Where does it say that we lower the levels of standard? We had a monitoring group not long ago that we discussed a certain number of SPS questions. And of course, the debates in monitoring groups are confidential. But I would like to to recall that my colleague from DG santé indicated that, for example, currently 100% of poultry imports from Brazil are subject to physical checks at EU borders, whereas the normal standard frequencies for all countries are 30%.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Free trade agreements (FTAs) · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “So at a certain moment, there is a question of, you know, is this really fair? Now, for a long time, the position of the commission has been that we have to be extremely careful in these matters. Now, there are things that we consider are global goods. And so therefore we want to impose a certain number of standards to other countries. The best example again is the protection of the Amazon forest. That explains why we have decided to adopt the EU deforestation regulation that says you cannot, we cannot. We are not going to import products that are not sufficiently certified that they don't come from areas of illegal deforestation. There are other examples. For example, there are there is legislation in Europe that protects pollinators, bees, and this applies to everybody. Um, in terms of the protection of of health. Of course, when there are imports that come from countries where, for example, a certain number of pesticides are used. There are maximum residue limits that have been calculated by the European Food Safety Agency as not being harmful to the human population that are allowed. But in the vision for agriculture, the Commission goes much further. For the first time, it says that for the questions, for example on animal welfare or also in relation to the use of certain pesticides, it will start impact assessments to see whether indeed it is necessary to consider a certain number of measures that should also be applied to imports.”
Trade impact on forests · Pesticides & trade · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “So what these studies show is that the trade agreements of the European Union allow the farmers to increase their exports to third country markets, which are fast growing and limit very considerably any damage that can occur in the most sensitive markets. And this is very important because it also answers the concern, according to which we would have used agriculture as a bargaining chip. This is absolutely false. We have used the agreement to provide much better conditions for our agri food system to to be able to compete with with Mercosur and, and competitors in in Mercosur. Some of you said the safeguard would take too long. Well, in situations of crisis, the commission would adopt, safeguard, provisional safeguard measures for sensitive products in a matter of three weeks. So we do believe that actually the commission takes a commitment to intervene very quickly. There was a very important question as to whether the Commission has checked the legality of this agreement compared to EU law. The answer is, of course, yes. We have worked very hard with our lawyers. And when it comes to the rebalancing mechanism, I would like to say a few things. First of all, the rebalancing mechanism is not a rebalancing mechanism is a non-violation clause. It is something that exists in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade since 1947.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Export of EU agri-food products
- “Um, now, it has been widely reported already by the press that Commissioner Sefcovic is in Washington, DC as we speak and that, Um, in the afternoon. He will have engagements with stakeholders in the evening for us. He will have engagements with the US administration. Um, and this reflects what we have been saying all along, that the priority for the European Commission is, first and foremost, to engage and to find constructive and mutually advantageous forms of cooperation. So this is the compass. The compass is first and foremost to engage and find solutions. Um, but at the same time, we have said that, you know, if we are hit by unfair tariffs, which we don't think are justified, we will react firmly and immediately. The time for the time being, um, you know, we are the 18th, 19th of February. So until the 12th of March, there is a lot of time. Uh, so there is no time yet to talk about, you know, what actually, we are going to do for the time being. The absolute priority is the meetings that Commissioner Sefcovic is having in in DC, where of course, one of the priorities is going to be to see to find a solution to this threat of additional tariffs. Mr. chairman, I will stop here with your permission. There is a lot more that I could say, but I think that it would be very interesting to hear the comments from the members and do my best to answer any questions they may have. Thank you.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “I remind this committee that At only a certain number of audited and certified installations. Slaughterhouses in Brazil, in Argentina, in Uruguay and Paraguay can actually export the products to the European Union. Finally, the question of production standards the fact that antibiotics are used in Brazil is indeed a fact. Would that mean that we would, in an extraterritorial legislation, impose on Brazil that they do not use these antibiotics? Of course not. What is important is that there are checks that make sure that the antibiotics that are not allowed are actually not included in the products. When you read the vision for agriculture, you have also seen that the Commission has taken a commitment to do impact assessments on extending the principle that products, for example, pesticides that are prohibited in the EU, would also be eventually prohibited when they're included in imported products, and so goes for animal welfare legislation. This should not be put in international agreements, because this is a fact of the EU own legislation, which should never be up for negotiations. I will stop here because I think that Mrs. Siracusa also would like to add a couple of points. I apologise for having been long, but indeed there were many comments and questions.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “So since 1947 this rebalancing mechanism exists, and since 1958 we have created the Common Agricultural Policy. We have created the Green Deal, we have adopted all kinds of regulations, and no one has ever told us that we couldn't do it. When it comes to whether the safeguard clause would then run into trouble because of the so-called rebalancing mechanism? Of course not because the agreement includes with Mercosur, includes a bilateral safeguard clause that allows either party to adopt measures under a certain number of specific circumstances. Indeed, the safeguard running the safeguards and and of trade defence instruments in general requires a judgment by the Commission. This judgment is recognised by the European Court of Justice. The reason why we have proposed this indicative thresholds is precisely to remove a little bit of this leeway that the Commission has when it comes to checks, controls and so on. I should like to remind this committee that when it comes to imports from Brazil, there are today full documentary checks and full physical checks on beef and poultry when it comes to estradiol. Indeed, this is a finding that has been made that this is the reason why Brazil is not able to export products that have been found as using estradiol beta 17. We have asked Brazil to actually make sure that there are distinct processes for, for example, hormone or use, and as long as the situation is not clarified, well, there are no imports that come because there cannot be any export certificates in terms of traceability.”
Trade relations with Mercosur · Import of agri-food products in the EU
- “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Honourable members, dear colleagues, indeed, this point comes at a very peculiar moment in EU, US relations. Um, but let me start with the obvious. Even though maybe it's a bit pedantic, but I but I think it's very important. The European Union is by far the most important trade and economic partner of the United States. As a matter of fact, the Eu-us trade, economic and investment relationship is the biggest. It's the widest. It's the most significant one in the whole world. So as we speak, we have economic operators across the Atlantic on both sides that exchange goods and services every day, every hour, every month. Bilateral trade in goods and services doubled over the last decade, surpassing €1.6 trillion in 2023 and reflecting the importance of services in our economies. This relationship is more or less equally divided in exchanges on goods and exchanges in services. Our business communities are heavily invested on both sides. Bilateral investment stock now reaches the staggering figure of €5.3 trillion, and this is a 2022 figure, with EU companies being by far the first the most important investor in the US economy. Uh, and our companies in the US of course, bring capital, jobs, technology to the US economy. They support millions and millions of jobs. And of course they pay taxes to the US budget. There is much case about this question of the trade balance. Uh, it is true that the US has a surplus in trading goods, and it is also equally true that the US has a trade surplus in trade, in services and whatever small resulting trade surplus the EU has small, especially when you confront it with the overall figures of the trade relationship.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “Well, this is simply the reflection of the dynamism of the US economy, its growth, consumer My preferences strong US demand for European goods. And I should say that yes we are. Market economies and resources are allocated freely. Um, now, of course, um, Mr. Chairman, you said, you know, you want to hear what the strategy is, where you where we are. And of course, everybody wants to know what are we doing with, um, all these executive orders and announcements that basically come almost every year? Um, so I will do my best to respond to that. And what I will do also is that I will do my best to try to be clear about what the compass is. So what the what the direction it is that we want to want to want to give. What is clear is that there is a lot of speculation and that everybody is reading very carefully the various announcements, but let's look at the facts. The first fact, the I would say the most pressing one, is that we know because there is a publication in the Federal Register that on the 12th of March, the United States will impose a 25% tariff on all imports of steel and aluminium products without exemptions. And the scope of these products is actually going to be wider than the scope of the current section 232 measures, because it will cover what the US call derivative US steel products, which means basically more semi-finished and more downstream products.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “Then there is this announcement on reciprocal tariffs, where I want to stress that the European Union has not received any notification, any formal notification, and there is no act with a legal effect in the US that has still been passed. Nevertheless, on the 14th of February, the Commission thought useful to recall a couple of a couple of things about that, and there is a statement which I'm sure you have read, but I think it's important to recall it. In this statement, we say that the proposed reciprocal trade policy is a step in the wrong direction. We recall the importance of open trade, and we reaffirm the conviction we have in trade partnerships that are mutually beneficial and balanced, grounded in transparency and fairness. But the statement also says something very important. It makes clear that you will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to. Challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies. So this is a very strong statement, and I don't think that there is anything that I should add. Now, having said all that, I think it is relatively again, obvious that the importance of transatlantic trade and investments for the European and the American economies basically compel the EU and US to find mutually beneficial solutions. We want to strengthen trade opportunities for US companies, workers and consumers. And we are definitely open to pragmatic and, you know, big thinking on how we can increase trade and investment opportunities between us and how we can work together on shared challenges like economic security, non-market policies and practice, for example.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “We very much regret this. We see no justification on the imposition of these tariffs, which will be economically counterproductive, but also because we have never been the source of the problem. First of all, if you look at the figures, the exports to the US on steel have declined significantly from 4.5 million metric tons to three and a half, 3.8 million metric tons, and the EU exports on aluminium have actually remained stable. But also because the very notion that the EU would represent a threat to US national security, I remember that. I recall that these measures are based on section 232, and are based on the president invoking a national security threat for the US. So the very notion that the EU would represent a threat to US national security is simply incorrect. So the reality is that rather than putting tariffs on each other, this is clearly an area where we should be cooperating together on common challenges, because we do have common challenges on steel and aluminium, for example, the question of overcapacity. So this is the first fact. The second fact is that, Mr. Chairman, you were recalling the executive order on America First trade policy. There, the president has mandated the administration by the 31st of March to bring back a report on a number of things that the administration must investigate. These include unfair and unbalanced trade, including persistent trade deficits, unfair trading practices and much more. So The deadline is 31st of March.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “Um, now, if I, if I look at the the statements that have now been published in the Federal Register, we do not see a major change in the narrative, the justification by the US. Um, so, by and large, I do believe that the legal analysis that was made at the time still still stands. Um, I should add that, um, the expansion of the scope and, um, you know, a certain number of, uh, statements that we consider incorrect, for example, the fact that, uh, exports from the EU have have increased actually, to a certain extent, make the situation worse. Yeah. Now, um, what? You know, the the art of the art in, in inverted commas. I hope that the reporters will not report that the, the very big responsibility of designing, um, retaliatory countermeasures. Uh, first of all, I mean, let's not fool ourselves. This is a major political decision to go for this. Retaliation is not something that we're going to decide lightly. Um, nobody really wants to have the pain of the tariffs and the countermeasures and so on and so forth. Um, but, you know, we may get we may get to a situation where, uh, this is what we have to do in line with what the president has said, that we will react firmly and immediately if we are targeted unfairly. Um, what we do in those cases and, and, you know, that we have experience in, in compensation and retaliation in, in the WTO is that we look at a list of products where we know that the pain on the other side is going to be higher than the pain on our side to a certain extent.”
Intellectual property rights (IPR) · EU-US trade relations
- “And of course, it's very important that we try to find that we try to find solutions. So this is what this is what commissioner wants to do with the administration. There's also going to be discussions with other stakeholders. It's very important that we can we can do this. Um, what are the effects of the measures on steel and aluminium? Generally speaking, these kind of measures, especially because the US is such a big market, have two types of effects. The first one is a potential significant loss of EU exports to the EU, to the US. Um, because when you increase the price of the products by tariffs, of course you reduce the attractivity of of this product. So there is very likely a reduction of exports to the to the US. But then there is also what we call a trade diversion effect, which is the fact that other countries, especially because this time there are absolutely no exemptions, is that other countries will try to get into the European market because basically the European market is the is the Is the second, if not the first, most attractive market in the world. There on steel, as you know, we have our steel safeguards which are effective, which continue to be effective.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “We have started a functional review of these safeguards, and we intend to conclude the investigation, I think, by the by the end of March. So this is very timely compared to the 1st of April. So we, we, you know, we take the view that the safeguards do protect us. One question that we have on which we don't have an answer yet is indeed whether because the scope of the measures on on steel and the duties on aluminium are increased, whether there is a need to either, you know, have a new safeguard or look at other means of protecting the market. So this is something on which I can confirm that DG trade is is working. Um, the um, the, the whole question of um, you know, small versus large member states and the And the whole question of of possible retaliation. Um, one um, when we go to retaliation, we have a process of consultation. We publish the proposed list of products and we want to hear the views to there is a if we use the enforcement regulation, which is what we have used for in 2018 for the, um, retaliation on on steel and on steel. Um, there is a comitology process where the member states vote at qualified majority on what the commission is proposing.”
EU-US trade relations · EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports
- “Lutnick nor Mr. Greer have actually completed formally the Senate confirmation in the sense that they've had the Senate hearings, but there is not a vote yet by the Senate. And we have to respect that. And this is why we have always said that as soon as we could, we would start engaging, and we have done that. Um, Hvp has engaged with, um, the Secretary of state, Rubio, as soon as he was, uh, confirmed. And we have continued to engage as soon as it was possible. Uh, what is the scope of what is the object of this mission to mission to Washington. Well, as you know very well, when you enter into a period of negotiation, engagement and so on, the first, the first thing is actually to establish a personal relationship. So this is the first thing that Mr. Commissioner Sefcovic will will do. He has essentially three interlocutors in in the US administration the Commerce Secretary, the USTR and the National Economic council director. And and so it is very important to have a dialogue. And then it is very important also to have a frank discussion about the facts. Um, because they seem to see things in a certain way. We seem to see things in another way. It's very important to have a discussion about the facts. And then I don't deny that. One of the priorities, of course, is to look at the first thing that is going to happen, which is this announcement, this decision of the tariffs on steel and aluminium by the 12th of March.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “All right. Thank you. Thank you very much for the very challenging comments and and observations. Um, some of you say the Commission has realized that this is not business as usual. Um, it's not business as usual. There is a new administration in the in the US and the president of that administration has. You know, decided that he wants to to change a number of things. But at the same time, and this is the reason why I started my introduction with facts and figures, we cannot deny the breadth, the importance of this trade and economic and investment relationship. It cannot be denied. Yeah. And this is also the reason why, you know, we want in these debates to really try to stick to the facts and to really try to take a dispassionate approach. The common interest that the EU and the US have is very clearly to continue building this relationship. Yeah. So I think that this is the first message that is very important. Um, now, if I, if I go through your various questions on, on section 232. Mr. chairman, you know that the position of the Commission at the time was that indeed the measures taken invoking national security, which is an exception foreseen in the WTO, where, as a matter of fact, a safeguard in disguise, and that the US should have then offered trade compensation to its negotiating its trading partners.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “And of course, the Parliament is informed and has all the latitude to express its its views. But, you know, again, I always have to be very careful about what I say, but we have to be prepared to a situation where one the US may not target all member states of the European Union in the same way. Again, the fact is that not all member states have a trade surplus to the US. That is the first thing. And we have to be prepared to a situation where if we were to decide to go to this route of retaliation, which is not, again, the preferred route, then of course, the impact on various member states is going to be different because not everybody produces the same products. Yeah. So the question of European unity is going to become one very concrete issue, not just a question of political statements. And so as the poor bureaucrat that I am, I can only call on the democratically elected politicians as the chairman, um, recalled, to actually make sure that there is European unity. The Commission will continue passing the same message to the member States, and of course, also to the European Parliament. There will be difficult political decisions. And of course, the question of unity is going to be paramount because it's very simple. Together we're going to be strong, divided. We're going to be to be weak. Thank you.”
State Aid · EU-US trade relations
- “Legislation is is put on the is put on the table. Um on VAT. We have published a Q&A in, uh, in the in the press corner of the commission, which I understand from Philippe that we may have distributed that at least to the Secretariat. It indicates what the Commission thinks about VAT and a number of other things. Vat is a system of taxation that is borne by the final consumer. So it applies to EU produced products in the EU, as well as imported products from the US and elsewhere. It is the final consumer that pays the tax. It is non-discriminatory. There is nothing unfair about about this tax. Um, we need to, um, we need to indeed prioritize dialogue over over tariffs. We agree with that. And this is exactly what Commissioner Sefcovic is doing in Washington. Um, now one one thing that I think is very important. Um, we, we, we like to defend our sovereignty. We also have to accept the sovereignty of third countries. The system in the US is that there are. The president appoints a certain number of and nominates a certain number of. Cabinet members. And then it is for the Senate to confirm the appointment of. These cabinet members and the US have relatively strict rules on the degree to which. Cabinet nominees can actually engage with third countries. Um, neither Mr.”
VAT harmonisation · EU-US trade relations
- “Um, now the whole question of, um, you know, what may happen on the 4th of April, on the 1st of April, on the 2nd of April, I don't know. Uh, we have to accept that we have to wait the end of the assessment by the administration. Um, but certainly, again, there will be this question of what do we do with it? Um, but it's too early to answer this question. The question of, um, you know, political pressure. I, I should note that in the statements that President Trump has made towards the EU, um, it's essentially about the economy. It's essentially about this About this perception that the trade is imbalanced, that previous administrations have agreed with you, things that have resulted in, in negative impacts for for the US. To my knowledge, he has not mentioned the question of drugs, fentanyl and so on like he has done with Canada, Mexico and Colombia. So again, if we look at the facts, even, you know, looking at announcements which are not, um, acts that have a legal bearing, we do not see this this question on the question which then Mr. Benifei was mentioning and others have mentioned about a potential attack to EU regulation. Um, again, I want to echo what president von der Leyen has said. We will react, including if we are, um, you know, if if our non-discriminatory, um.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, okay. So yes, indeed we have we have of course, started running the various economic models to have a clear picture about the, the effects of, of these measures, Mr. Wolman? Of course. Um, and, um, you know. What do you mean? What do we mean by immediately? Um, very fast. Uh, this this House often criticizes the commission for being too slow. I hope that this time you will not criticize the commission for being too fast. But I cannot give you a deadline. I cannot give you a date. Because first, we want to talk, negotiate, find a solution, and then we will decide whether there is anything in terms of retaliation or anything that we want to do. Um, so I hope you will accept that we still have time to, to have to have a proper to have a proper conversation. Um, I, I certainly agree with, with the question of internal market. It goes beyond the it goes beyond the the scope of this of this committee. But certainly this is this is very important. Um, the question of the division of member states and so on. And, and what are we doing to keep the member states together? Um, this whole question of the AI was discussed in the in the previous agenda point. Um, I think that my my colleague Sandler explained what the situation is. Um, we're not accepting the situation. We are engaging with us on that.”
EU Single Market harmonisation
- “Uh, we have been talking to the member states to have a, you know, the most precise picture of what? Of what we have. And, um, you know, we're not just saying. Oh, yes, well, you divide in two tiers and we just accept this. There is there is an engagement with the US administration. Um, uh, we we are talking to we are talking to the member states as much as we are talking with you. Um, And, um, you know. At the same time, the reality is that the EU economy is a diverse one. So, you know, as as some of you have mentioned, you know, some produce steel, some other produce something else, some produce more wine than others and so on. So we have an inevitable situation where, you know, the various products and the various in the various ways in which member states are going to be impacted, to be impacted, is is different. But that doesn't mean that we will not work in a way where we can have an EU approach, which is supported hopefully by the unanimity of Member states and, if necessary, by a qualified majority of them. The safeguard expires, indeed in 2026. The Commission has indicated that it intends to find Um, a a solution, uh, to to make sure that fair trade continues to take place in, in steel and to address a certain number of a certain number of issues.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · EU-US trade relations
- “Um, the US is a very important player. Um, but there are also 148 members of the WTO. Uh, you know, we continue to believe very strongly that it is a system of rules that is in our interest. You know, there was a mention of, you know, let's not have passions. Let's only look at the interest. Our interest is to continue making sure that there is a system of rules, of predictability. And this is what the WTO offers. So, you know, the whole work of, um, of reforming the WTO and finding solutions is something that is very important. And we very much hope that the Americans will want to continue talking to us, and we want to talk to us about this because it's indeed very. It's indeed very important. Um, I don't I don't think that investment protection agreements are part of the solution, simply because the issue for the time being is trans trans border questions. Um, and again, what happens if Trump just doesn't care? Um, well, but I mean, how can we not care when we look at the magnitude of the figures of the trade and investment relationship? Um, you know, it's it's it's impossible not to it's impossible not to care. Um, again, you know, what is what is the strategic approach and so on. Believe me, there is a lot of work that has been going on and it continues to go on in terms of preparedness and in terms of approach and in terms of strategic discussions.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “Um, we are still in the early months of 25. We do have a bit of time, uh, to the extent that this solution will require a legal act, of course, then the deadlines for the legal acts, including by when the Commission will have to present its its proposal, will be will be respected. Um, the I understand that there are many questions about the anti-corruption instrument. Um, I fully understand this. At the same time, I am not in a position at this stage to tell you neither whether we will use the anti-corruption instrument, nor when, nor how. Um, again, because we have we are not reached. We have not reached this, this this stage. On the fact that the farmers are going to be once again on the receiving end. I would like to recall the list of retaliation for the initial section 232 measures that was published back in 2018, and as a matter of fact, the products that we have included in this list are essential industrial products, even though there are a few agricultural products and some, um, processed agricultural products. Um, we, um. I must say, I take a little bit, uh, offense when people say, ah, all you're doing is talking the whole system of rules of, uh, the WTO has been based on talking and negotiations. We want to have a negotiating process. We are in a situation where the US are telling us, listen, we don't like the situation as it is.”
EU-US trade relations
- “There are strategic considerations. There are tactical considerations. There are things that we can say. There are things that we cannot say If anybody wants to have agreed, speaking points for encounters with the US administration will be very pleased to provide them. This is part of the cooperation that we have between institutions, and certainly the idea of speaking from the same hymn sheet is definitely something that we would welcome very much. Um, on context, Mr. Chairman, well, before I cannot help going back to this question of of trade agreements, and let's not be too dependent from, from others. Of course, we don't need to be. We don't need to be too dependent from others. It's what we've been saying about de-risking with China and finding solutions to avoid, to avoid dependencies. But I mean, let's face it, the European Union is 400 million people. The rest of the world is 7 billion. Like the minus the 400 million. There is 90% of world growth that takes place outside the European Union. So this idea of saying, you know, to be happy, let's just remain closed in in our system and we don't have to talk to anybody. It just doesn't work economically. We, you know, whether we like it or not, there are markets out there where our companies thrive and we have to support our companies.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “We have fantastic companies. The Made in Europe is wonderful. It's sought after by everybody. Why should we just say no? We don't want to. We don't want to trade with others. And finally, chairman, the question of I fully join you when you say, you know, it's it's absurd that there are no exceptions with Ukraine. If you read into the details of the proclamation in the Federal Register, there is a phrase that says that, you know, the fact that there were exemptions from Ukraine have actually benefited EU operators that have been able to use semi-finished products to then export more to the US. There are no further exports to the US. The exports of the EU have gone down. And you know, if if our steelmakers have decided to buy semi-finished products from Ukraine, well, all the better. That was exactly the idea of why we have the Dcfta, and we have a system of free trade on steel with Ukraine already for a very long time, um, contacts with third countries. Um, I can neither deny or confirm, but there was there was a discussion in, in the General Council of the WTO yesterday where indeed the question of us was, was raised. And indeed, you know, as usual, when the General Council comes up, there are contacts in Geneva to to try to see whether we can agree positions.”
EU-US trade relations
- “We want to change it. We have issues. We have questions. We have problems. By the way, we also have problems with, with with a certain number of of policies of the US. So can we. You know, we need to talk. Well let's talk, let's talk. Let's find solutions. This is what we do. The the the trade negotiation results in, you know, situations that move from the status quo. It's one. Again, it's one of the criticisms of trade agreements is that, you know, they change the situation. Uh, that, that, that we have. So, you know, let's not downplay the importance of, of negotiation and talking because it is actually extremely important. And this is the way by which we want to find a solution. Again, this question of they hit us with tariffs. We hit them back. We use all the panoply of instruments and so on. And this is going to be costly. Can we try a solution where you know we avoid those costs. And this is exactly what we're trying to do. Um limits are we the commission is afraid that Trump would destroy the WTO. The commission is never afraid. It is a it is a process that has started already. I mean, it's been it's been years that us have said that there are things that they don't like about the WTO. They have they have been the ones who have blocked the appointments to the to the appellate body of the of the dispute settlement and so on and so forth.”
EU-US relations · EU-US trade relations
- “Think again. I cannot hope. I cannot help being lied and saying that if the Commission has written something in a document, of course this is going to happen. No. So I confirmed indeed that we have started what we call a functional review of the current safeguards, and that the idea is that we would complete this investigation towards the end of March. And to the extent that there will be changes, of course, then there will be the usual comitology process. So indeed, this is the fact.”
EU policy on custom fee on non-EU imports
- “But we also need to forge ahead with the ongoing negotiations, um, be them with India, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and others. Finally, we need to continue to be very vigilant on the risk of circumvention because and trade diversion, because, of course, what the United States is doing is that it is changing the terms of trade. So there is a risk of of trade diversion. So we have set up, as you know, a dedicated import surveillance task force, which is now operational. Um, and we continue now monitoring the situation, and we remain ready to apply the available tools in our trade instrument toolbox. Uh, should we see that the legal conditions are met to intervene? Uh, in case of, uh, of trade diversion. This is where we are, if you want. The summary is that we want to continue giving the priority to a negotiated outcome. So we're very mobilized to this. Um, the the contacts with the United States administration continue. Um, we have done very good progress in the negotiations so far, and we still have a bit of time. Um, two weeks is an incredible long time in, uh, in the current situation with the U.S. to find an agreement in principle with us. Thank you.”
Free trade agreements (FTAs) · EU-India relations · EU-US trade relations