The U.S. and the European Union are working to address a new trade irritant to minimize chances it will stall efforts on bilateral trade cooperation.
The two sides established the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in June 2021 and set goals including (1) expanding bilateral trade and investment, (2) avoiding new unnecessary technical barriers to trade, (3) strengthening global cooperation on technology, digital issues, and supply chains, (4) cooperating on compatible and international standards development, and (5) facilitating regulatory policy and enforcement cooperation and, where possible, convergence.
Two meetings of the TTC have been held so far, with leaders reporting progress at the most recent session in May 2022 on issues such as export controls, forced labor, semiconductors, and technical standards. They also said they anticipated taking concrete actions ahead of the next meeting on supply chain pressures, investment screening reporting, and trade responses to non-market policies and practices.
While there has been little news on those initiatives since then, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said this week that the next TTC meeting is now scheduled for Dec. 5 in the Washington, D.C., area. Tai, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with senior EU officials recently to set the stage for that meeting.
The officials also signaled that they are working to address a new trade irritant that threatens to throw the TTC off track. The Inflation Reduction Act recently signed into law by President Biden includes a provision creating a tax credit for purchases of electric vehicles that incorporate batteries built in North America. The EU and others have protested that this provision discriminates against their automakers in violation of World Trade Organization rules.
To separate this issue from the TTC, the two sides launched a task force that will address EU concerns related to the IRA and agreed to hold the first meeting of the task force the week of Oct. 31. A White House statement said this move reflects “the importance of close coordination and supporting sustainable and resilient supply chains across the Atlantic, including to build the clean energy economy.”
For more information on the TTC, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
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