EU To Reveal Max Trade Retaliation List Versus US

By David Thomas

     LONDON (MNI) - The EU Commission is poised to publish next Wednesday a list

of counter tariffs to US moves earlier this week to impose USD 11 billion of

tariffs on EU exports. 

     An EU official said that the list would be a "max-list", entailing that

only a subset of what is on the list of U.S. goods that could potentially be

subject to tariffs is likely to become subject to them.

     EU officials have said that the threatened EU tariffs would be "similar" to

the U.S. Euro 11bn tariff threat, suggesting that the size of the counter

measures will be on the same scale.

     The U.S. move came in anticipation of a looming World Trade Organisation

ruling that Airbus subsidies did cause material harm to Boeing's commercial

standing. Neither side plans to impose the tariffs that have been threatened

until the WTO issues its rulings. The WTO is also expected to rule that U.S. tax

breaks for Boeing caused similar harm to Airbus, although that ruling is not

anticipated until early next year.

     Meanwhile, EU ministers will approve the launch of EU-U.S. trade talks next

week, chiefly in the area of automobile trade, despite objections from France

which has made clear it will be voting against starting negotiations.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2223; email: david.robinson@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$E$$$,M$U$$$,MX$$$$,MFU$$$,MGU$$$]