By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union ministers on Monday were set to urge top U.S. trade officials to apply more of the July EU-U.S. trade deal by cutting U.S. tariffs on EU steel and removing them from EU goods such as wine and spirits.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were due to meet EU ministers responsible for trade for 90 minutes over lunch in their first trips to Brussels since taking office.
Ahead of that meeting, the European ministers gathered to discuss pressing trade issues, including Chinese rare earth and chip export restrictions.
NO IMMEDIATE BREAKTHROUGHS EXPECTED
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said he did not expect any immediate breakthroughs with his U.S. counterparts.
“I think today it’s not about negotiations. It’s about a stock-taking exercise. And I think this is also about the political assessment of EU-U.S. bilateral relations,” he said.
Under the end-July deal, the United States set 15% tariffs on most EU goods, while the European Union agreed to remove many of its duties on U.S. imports.
That may only happen in March or April, given it requires approval from the European Parliament and EU governments, which EU diplomats say has exasperated Washington.
But while insisting the process is on course, the 27-nation bloc is also pointing to agreed items on which it wants to see progress, chief among them steel and aluminium.
The United States has a 50% tariff on the metals and since mid-August has applied this to the metal content in 407 “derivative” products such as motorcycles and refrigerators. More derivatives may be added next month.
RISK THAT JULY ACCORD GETS HOLLOWED OUT
EU diplomats say that such actions, along with the prospect of new tariffs on trucks, critical minerals, planes and wind turbines, threaten to hollow out the July accord.
“We’re at a delicate moment,” one EU diplomat said. “The U.S. is looking for reasons to criticise the EU as we are trying to get them to work on steel and other unresolved matters.”
The bloc also wants a broader range of its products subject only to low pre-Trump duties. Its wish list includes wine and spirits, olives, pasta, medical devices and biotech.
The EU is also ready to discuss areas of possible regulatory cooperation, such as cars, the bloc’s purchases of U.S. energy, which has hit $200 billion this year, and joint efforts on economic security, particularly in response to Chinese export controls.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop. Editing by Jane Merriman and Conor Humphries)
