MNI POLICY: EU, US Skirt Farm Impasse In Trade Talks

By David Thomas

     BRUSSELS(MNI) - EU and U.S. trade officials will kick off two weeks of

trade talks today in Washington which will focus on regulatory cooperation and

prepare the ground for a meeting of EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and

USTR Robert Lighthizer tentatively scheduled for some time in the coming weeks,

EU sources said.

     A second set of expert level meetings will discuss other topics under the

2018 EU-US Joint Statement, including World Trade Organisation reform, and the

increase of bilateral trade in liquefied natural gas and soybeans.

     An EU official stressed the talks did not amount to the start of free trade

negotiations, but aimed at building upon the 2018 Joint Statement agreed by U.S.

President Donald Trump and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The

latter had sought to defuse the threat of U.S. tariffs on imports of EU cars by

promising more EU imports of U.S. soy and LNG.

     Fears that the U.S. might go ahead with the implementation of car tariffs,

along with concerns a U.S.-China trade deal could leave it marginalised, helped

prompt the EU's decision on April 15 to adopt a negotiating mandate for talks

with Washington on eliminating industrial tariffs, despite opposition from

France and Belgium. The EU has insisted that the talks will not cover

agriculture while the U.S. has said that it will not begin negotiations if

agriculture is not included.

     Starting technical-level talks appears to be an attempt to pre-empt that

threat and seek improved trade relations while skirting the lack of agreement on

agriculture.

     "The European Commission is convinced that a strict implementation of the

various strands of work initiated under the Joint Statement will benefit both

sides and could help addressing current challenges for the multilateral trading

system," an EU Commission source said.

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3829; email: jason.webb@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$E$$$,M$U$$$,MC$$$$,MT$$$$,MGU$$$]