Aeronautical spare parts, non-sparkling wines and French and German cognacs will be added to the list of products taxed since 2019 in the context of the dispute between Airbus and Boeing.
Le Monde avec AFP
The United States announced, Wednesday, December 30, that they would impose additional customs duties on French and German products, in retaliation for those imposed by the European Union (EU), which they consider excessive and unfair because of the scope chosen to calculate them.
Aeronautical spare parts, non-sparkling wines and French and German cognacs will be, in retaliatory measure, added to the list of taxed products since 2019, according to a statement from the US Trade Representative (USTR). These customs duties are part of the dispute over public aid paid to Airbus and Boeing.
Indeed, the EU was also authorized this year by the World Trade Organization ( WTO) to levy additional tariffs on American products. But Washington believes it has been penalized by the method of calculation chosen, which, according to the Trump administration, has led to too high an amount of customs duties levied on American products. In question, on the one hand the reference period, on the other hand, the geographical perimeter.
Thus, “to implement its tariffs, the EU used commercial data of a period during which commercial volumes had been considerably reduced due to the terrible effects on the global economy of Covid-19 “, denounces the USTR.
Public aid paid to aircraft manufacturers at the heart of the conflict
“The result of this choice was that Europe imposed tariffs on many more products than what would have been covered if it had used a normal period. Although the United States did explained to the EU the distorting effect of the chosen period, the EU refused to change its approach, ”the statement added. The United States thus announced “to change their reference period to align with that used by the European Union”.