Government welcomes temporary suspension of customs duties between United States and European Union

The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, praised the suspension of these measures, calling it "a great step forward towards reaching a definitive solution as quickly as possible through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and towards definitively lifting the customs duties that are dragging down the Spanish aeronautical and agri-food industries, and resuming exports to the US market, which is key for our companies".

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, made a statement along the same line, stating that "this is excellent news for the whole of the agri-food sector, which has been unfairly affected by the customs duties that had nothing to do with the sector". Above all, in a context such as the present one, in which the recovery of the US market will be key for some agri-food products, including wine and olive oil.

According to the Minister for Trade, "we have spent months calling for the United States to take the right measures to comply with the WTO rules, since the escalation of the trade conflict is something that has not befitted either party".

The minister welcomed this decision, which means the return of the United States to a rule-based trading system and multilateralism. She pointed out that "international trade based on rules fosters balanced exchanges, which translates into more jobs and increased wealth", above all, in the countryside, where most agri-food companies are based.

For Reyes Maroto, this decision "opens up the possibility to address and resolve other disputes in the near future, and means we can feel more optimistic about soon developing a collaboration agenda in areas of mutual interest".

A four-month period now begins in which both parties should negotiate future disciplines in the granting of official subsidies for aircraft manufacturers, which could be the starting point for a framework to support the aeronautical industry in the future.

Airbus-Boeing crossed cases

In November 2020, the EC approved the Implementing Regulation and the list of products on which the customs duties counter-measures would be applied to the USA, for the sum of approximately 4 billion dollars, in response to the illegal subsidies to the manufacturers of US Boeing aircraft.

This decision was based on the WTO resolution of 13 October, which recognised the EU's power to exercise its own rights to withdraw concessions and impose counter-measures on the USA. The draft Implementing Regulation established the EC's intention to suspend the application of the future Regulation as soon as the USA lifted its own counter-measures.

The USA's additional customs duties are 10% on products from the aeronautical industry and 25% on agri-food products, which have been applied since 18 October 2019. They affect such important agri-food products as bottled olive oil, bottled still wines (with less than 14º of alcohol), green olives, cheeses, citrus fruits, pork and mollusc preserves.

Non official translation