Reyes Maroto sees EU-US partnership to boost semiconductor production as a breakthrough

The Trade and Technology Council, which was established on 15 June at the EU-US summit, met for the first time today in Pittsburgh . It is a forum to coordinate approaches to key global issues in trade, economics and technology, and to intensify transatlantic trade and economic relations.

The US and the EU have agreed to work together with defined objectives in the Pittsburgh Declaration and a well-established work programme. The text includes aspects of cooperation in investment monitoring and the development of innovative Artificial Intelligence systems. In addition, there is a section dedicated to semiconductors. The text contains a commitment by the EU and the US to improve the security of semiconductor supply, and the ability of the parties to design and produce them, especially the most technologically advanced ones. Finally, they commit to identifying gaps in their value chains and strengthening each other's production ecosystems.

The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, considers that "it is a great step forwards that the US and the EU are reinforcing their cooperation to strengthen the semiconductor production ecosystems, which are so necessary in industrial sectors such as the automotive industry, in which Spain is a world power. The shortage of semiconductors is a problem that affects the entire automotive industry and requires joint action on both sides of the Atlantic.

Transatlantic cooperation also involves addressing global trade challenges and avoiding new barriers to trade, promoting openness and transparency, and working on the environmental effects of trade.

To make these objectives possible, 10 working groups have been set up:

• Technology Standards.
• Climate and clean technologies.
• Secure value chains.
• Information and Telecommunications Technologies and Services.
• Security and Competitiveness.
• Data Governance and Technology Platforms.
• Threats to security and human rights from technologies.
• Export Controls.
• Investment Control.
• Promotion of SMEs and their access to digitalisation.
• Global challenges to trade.

The Trade and Technology Council will meet regularly at a political level to steer the cooperation of each side. It will be co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice-President and EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager; European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken; US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo; and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.