April 20,2019

Anna Wood

Transatlantic tensions have increased since the Trump administration imposed tariffs on European aluminum and steel imports, and threatened to slap duties on European cars as well. Tension between Europe and the US over trade was intensified recently after the European Commission (EU) listed American products it might target amid a long-running dispute over Airbus and Boeing aircraft subsidies for nearly 15 years.

A final compliance report from the World Trade Organization (WTO) was released on April 11 and confirmed a ruling that the US has continued to subsidize Boeing illegally, which caused significant harm to its European competitor Airbus. The EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is said to have prepared possible “countermeasures” against the US over the ongoing Boeing-Airbus dispute and await the outcome of arbitration at the WTO.

On April 17, the EU warned the US in a news release of an imminent trade war and tariffs on tomato ketchup, briefcases and video game consoles on a range of US products exported to the EU from frozen fish to gym equipment under consideration for extra import duties. The EU commission announced the draft list of items overall amounting around $20 billion (€17.7 billion) of US exports into the EU. Likewise, the Trump administration had drawn up its own list of European items and said the US was ready to be hit with duties pending WTO arbitration.

However, the US President Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President, both agree that they are confident if there is good faith on both sides a solution can be found and they won't be forced into the extremity of having tariffs applied on both sides."