Last night EU and US leaders met in Washington for a very important discussion to dismiss the emerging trade war.
Sweden’s EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström attended the meeting together with Donald Trump and the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Aftet the meeting a Press Confernece was held. Trump spoke first saying:
“A new phase of the relationship between the US and the EU has begun. We will work together to strengthen ties between the US and Europe populations”.
Juncker responded by saying:
“We have agreed today, and identified different areas to be exempt from taxes or duty tariffs. It was my goal and we have reached this”.
In summary, after the meeting, it can be noted that the US will not implement new import duties on passenger cars from the EU. The import duties on steel and aluminum from the EU remain, but should be “revalued”.
In addition, the US and EU will enter into negotiations to reduce tariffs on industrial goods to zero, and remove non-tariff barriers and financial support.
The United States and the EU will also work to reform the World Trade Organization WTO.
“Great to be back on track with the EU. This is a great day for a free and fair trade”
The main concern is to block gaps in WTO rules that China exploits to large state aid to Chinese companies, theft of intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer from foreign companies to Chinese.
Trumps tweeted after the meeting: ‘Great to be back on track with the EU. This is a great day for a free and fair trade’.
This is indeed a great breakthrough for EU-US trade and also a temporary stop of the increasing risks for an escalating trade war. Good news for world trade.
The Swedish beach handball national team has started very well in the World Cup.
The first two games were won victory against strong home nation Russia and and world cup favourites Brazil.
RUSSIA SWEDEN 1-2 (20-13, 18-23, 6-9)
Goal scorers:
Russia: Egor Kiyashko 14, Igor Neklyudov 14, Roman Kalashnikov 6, Konstantin Vinokur 6, Maksim Esman 2, Evgenii Svestula 2.
Sweden: Martin Käck 16, Jesper Knutsson 12, Philip Larsson 6, Henrik Dahlberg 4, Hampus Dahlqvist 3, August Elmberg 2, Niklas Ekberg 2.
SWEDEN-BRASILIA 2-1 (18-16, 13-16, 12-10)
Goal scorers:
Sweden: Martin Käck 12, Hampus Dahlqvist 10, Philip Larsson 8, Henrik Dahlberg 7, Niklas Ekberg 4, Jesper Knutsson 2.
Brazil: Gil Peres 14, Wellington Esteves 8, Joao Paulo Sousa 6, Bruno Oliveira 6, Thiago Claudio 4, Renan Carvalho 2, Marcelo Machado 2.
EU leaders will meet Donald Trump in Washington today to try to prevent him from introducing new duties.
On of the participants of the EU delegation is naturally EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. She says;
“We will explain that the EU is not an enemy,” she told DN. There are special circumstances before the meeting in Washington, USA, on Wednesday. Donald Trump has repeatedly continued to attack the EU in play, mainly on Twitter. Just over a week ago, the US President called the EU for an “enemy”.
“We will declare that the EU is not an enemy, but a friend and allied. We and the United States share the view that WTO trade needs to be modernized, “said EU Commerce Commissar Cecilia Malmström to DN.
Both Cecilia Malmström and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will, according to Reuters, participate in the meeting with the US president.
According to Cecilia Malmström, the EU will not enter the meeting with specific offers.
Instead, the goal of the EU is to prevent an escalating trade war – and stop Donald Trump’s threat of car and car taxes.
“They would be catastrophic for the Swedish economy and the world as a whole,” says Cecilia Malmström to Swedish media.
The trade dispute began with the US introducing duties on steel and aluminum products on June 1. Donald Trump has used customs against several countries, it is something he can do without going through the congress. The response from the EU, Canada and Mexico to the customs came three weeks later, with customs duties on goods mainly manufactured in states governed by Republicans.
Now, Cecilia Malmström says that the EU has prepared a list of new goods to introduce tariffs on whether the US would move on with its threat of car tariffs.
“We do not hope it will go in this direction, and ghat we instead can find a creative solution.
If not, the EU Commission has prepared a long list of a commodities where customs duty will be introduced or raised on goods from US. It would mean an extra duties on approx. $ 20 billion (equivalent to about SEK 180 billion), says Malmström.
She mentions agricultural products, machinery and high-tech products as potential goods that the EU could handle with customs duties.
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