A truce in more than 15 years of trade conflict.

The United States and the European Union (EU) announced, Friday, March 5, their desire to make a "new start" in their trade relationship, poisoned by the old conflict between the aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing and having reached its climax under the presidency of Donald Trump.

The two parties have agreed to suspend for four months the customs duties they impose on themselves in this dispute between the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and its American rival Boeing, announced the United States and the European Union. (EU) in a joint press release.

Brussels and Washington have accused each other since 2004 of illegally subsidizing their aeronautics industry.

This announcement was made after a telephone exchange between President Joe Biden and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

It was their first official meeting since the Democratic president arrived at the White House.

Joe Biden "underscored his support for the European Union and his commitment to repair and revitalize the USA-EU partnership," the White House said in a brief account of the call.

It was during this meeting that it was agreed to suspend the customs tariffs that they imposed on each other in the context of the Airbus / Boeing dispute.

"This will allow the EU and the US to ease the burden on their industries and workers as well as focus their efforts on resolving these long-standing disputes at the WTO," the joint statement said.

The objective is "to reach a negotiated, comprehensive and lasting solution to the aviation disputes", he added.

In addition, the "key elements" of a negotiated solution must include a framework on how to support the aviation sector in the future.

"President Biden and I have agreed to suspend all our tariffs imposed in the context of the Airbus-Boeing disputes, both on aeronautical and non-aeronautical products, for an initial period of four months," Ursula von der Leyen had announced before. even the publication of the joint press release.

During their meeting, the president of the European executive proposed "a new economic partnership" between the EU and the United States, "based on common values ​​and principles".

Relief in France

This announcement, the day after a similar agreement between London and Washington, was greeted with relief by Paris because the American surcharges particularly penalize French winegrowers.

"Finally, we are coming out of the trade war between the United States and Europe, which only results in losers", welcomed the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.

"I am delighted for our French winegrowers", he added, while the latter have borne the brunt of a conflict which did not concern them.

This is a "first step in the process of de-escalation" of trade, he said, the French Minister for Foreign Trade, Franck Riester.

"We are now going to work with the Commission and our European partners to reach an agreement within four months on new rules governing public support for the aeronautics sector, which is in line with our interests and without naivety," added the Minister Delegate.

In conflict since 2004

"We welcome the decision to suspend tariffs to allow negotiations to take place," for its part reacted Airbus in a separate statement, adding that it would continue to "defend a negotiated settlement of this long-standing dispute in order to avoid customs surcharges which only lead to losers ".

Airbus and its competitor Boeing, and through them the European Union and the United States, have been clashing since October 2004 before the World Trade Organization (WTO) over public aid paid to the two groups, deemed illegal.

Under the Trump administration, the United States was authorized in October 2019 to impose taxes on nearly 7.5 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros) of European goods and services imported each year, to the tune of 25% for wines and spirits, and 15% for Airbus planes.

In a mirror decision a year later, the WTO authorized Brussels to impose taxes on products imported from the United States.

The EU has since imposed tariffs on $ 4 billion of US exports.

The Biden administration announced on February 11 the provisional maintenance of additional taxes on certain European products, which entered into force on January 12, a few days before the end of Donald Trump's mandate, marked by strong trade tensions.

But last week, future US Trade Representative Katherine Tai stressed the "need for the US and the EU to unite to find an answer" to this conflict.

With AFP

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