Fifth Meeting Of US-EU Trade And Technology Council Underway

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Trade Rep Katherine Tai are shortly due to host their EU counterparts for fifth Trade and Technology Council Ministerial Meeting at the Department of State. Livestream of opening remarks here.

• Bloomberg reports that the TTC, “has another chance this week to show whether there’s still a path to create a “democratic model” for commerce across the global internet.”
• The meeting comes the EU braces itself for the prospect of a second Donald Trump administration which could wind down bilateral working groups and end work to liberalise trade relations.
• The EU is expected to raise concerns that Washington has used the forum as a tool in efforts to restrict China’s access to tech and argue that the forum must be more focused on trade facilitation, progress on critical minerals agreement, and mechanisms for European firms to benefit from US green subsidies.
• The council may also discuss stalled work a green-steel deal critical to the retraction of Trump-era tariffs. Yesterday, Tai met European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis to discuss, “strategies for moving forward with negotiations on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum and a U.S.-EU Critical Minerals Agreement.”