Today, the EU has submitted its proposal seeking the commitment of World Trade Organization (WTO) members for a multilateral trade action plan to expand the production of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and ensure universal and fair access. With this proposal to the WTO, divided in two communications, the EU underlines the WTO's central role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and urges fellow WTO members to agree on a set of commitments, including on intellectual property rights. President von der...

Read more

European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo today announced the start of discussions to address global steel and aluminum excess capacity. During a virtual meeting last week, the leaders acknowledged the need for effective solutions that preserve our critical industries, and agreed to chart a path that ends the WTO disputes following the U.S. application of tariffs on imports from the EU under section 232. Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis, Ambassador...

Read more

7 May, 2021, WASHINGTON | Ambassador Katherine Tai today released a set of transparency principles that establish the foundation for a high transparency standard for the day-to-day operations of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).  These Transparency Principles reflect the Administration’s commitment to comprehensive public engagement, including outreach to historically overlooked and underrepresented communities, as it develops and implements a trade policy that advances the interests of all Americans.  USTR will continue to build on these Transparency...

Read more

HR/VP Josep Borrell Blog Post | Recently, Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis presented a new trade strategy at the College of the European Commission. EU trade policy can be an important foreign policy instrument: we should leverage our trading power to promote EU interests and values and build a fairer and more sustainable form of globalisation. On 17 February, the European Commission approved a new EU trade strategy, prepared by my colleague Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis in charge of trade, in cooperation with the European...

Read more

The EU and U.S. agreed today to suspend all retaliatory tariffs on EU and U.S. exports imposed in the Airbus and Boeing disputes for a four-month period. The suspension allows both sides to focus on resolving this long-running dispute. It provides an important boost to EU exporters, since the U.S. had been authorised to raise tariffs on $7.5 billion of EU exports to the U.S. Similarly, EU tariffs will be suspended on some $4 billion worth of U.S. exports...

Read more

March 01, 2021 | WASHINGTON | The Office of the United States Trade Representative today delivered President Biden’s 2021 Trade Agenda and 2020 Annual Report to Congress, detailing a comprehensive trade policy in support of the Administration’s effort to help the U.S. recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build back better. The President’s agenda will create millions of good-paying jobs and support America’s working families by tackling four national challenges: building a stronger industrial and innovation base so the future is made...

Read more

Final quarter of 2020 shows continued recovery in G20 international merchandise trade | Download the entire news release (including graphs and tables PDF) 23 Feb 2021 - G20 international merchandise trade continued to rebound in the fourth quarter of 2020 (exports up 7.2% and imports up 6.8%), following the sharp falls seen in the first half of 2020, as lockdown measures affected trade globally. Although growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 was strong, it shows a reduction compared to the unprecedented expansion observed in the third...

Read more