[ad_1]
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is confident of brokering a deal that would suspend billions in tit-for-tat tariffs linked to the disagreement. Terms for the truce could be finalised as early as tomorrow, when the senior Cabinet minister meets with Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative, in London. Britain became involved in the long-running trade spat, over subsides to their aviation giants, while still a member of the European Union.
The dispute has cost transatlantic trade some £8.6billion in tariffs since it started in 2004.
US President Joe Biden and Europe’s top officials today reached a deal to end the damaging trade war over subsidies to the rival plane makers.
Whitehall sources told Express.co.uk a “similar deal” should be reached between London and Washington tomorrow.
Under the EU’s deal, all future Airbus and Boeing passenger aircraft will be developed without subsidies during a five-year truce.
Officials hope this will give both times sufficient time for a full settlement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The Government insider suggested that Brussels had “piggybacked” on another deal recently agreed between London and Washington.
In March, the Department for International Trade announced a four-month tariff suspension with the US to create room for a negotiated solution to de-escalate tensions in the Airbus-Boeing dispute.
Since 2004, the EU and US have hit each other with tit-for-tat tariffs as a result of the rift.
In the latest round of tariffs, the EU imposed duties on American imports worth £2.84billion, on products ranging from sugar molasses to orange juice.
In October 2019, the US slapped European imports with levies of £5.3billion, including French wine, Italian cheese and Spanish olive oil.
MUST READ: UK’s new £20bn Norway trade deal backed by Oslo
Removing the tariffs would provide a massive boost to the pandemic-stricken aerospace industry and provide more transatlantic cooperation at a time when China is posing a danger to the West.
For Britain, securing another long-term suspension would provide Ms Truss with another post-Brexit success story, shortly after the UK and Australia reached an agreement over a brand new trade deal.
Ms Truss said the pact is “the first we have negotiated from scratch, showing what we can do as a sovereign trading nation” and “strengthens the bond between two great friends and democracies”.
[ad_2]
