WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today met with the European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis to hold the first Ministerial Meeting of the Working Group on large civil aircraft. They affirmed the U.S.-EU Understanding on a Cooperative Framework for Large Civil Aircraft reached in June 2021 and agreed to continue the Working Group’s efforts to confront the challenges posed by China’s non-market economic policies.
“The Biden Administration has worked diligently to forge a new, cooperative and strategic relationship with the European Union and more effectively address China’s non-market policies and practices,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “We have made concrete progress toward that goal through this Working Group, and I am excited to continue deepening our cooperation to defend the interests of our aerospace workers and companies.”
Ambassador Tai and Executive Vice President Dombrovskis highlighted the importance of the understanding to suspend the tariffs related to the large civil aircraft disputes and the two sides’ commitment to address challenges from China’s non-market policies and practices. They reviewed the Working Group’s ongoing analytical work related to Chinese non-market policies and practices in the sector, such as industrial planning and targeting, discriminatory and anti-competitive activities of State- or Party- controlled entities, State-directed purchases, financial support, and forced technology transfer policies. They also exchanged views on the long-term risks to their market-oriented sectors from China’s state-directed industrial dominance goals.
Ambassador Tai and Executive Vice President Dombrovskis directed the Working Group to continue its analytical work on non-market policies and practices in the large civil aircraft sector and to consider the policies and tools needed to more effectively counter them.
Background
The United States and the European Union announced in June 2021 a cooperative framework to address the large civil aircraft disputes. The agreement moved away from years of disputes in pursuit of a more cooperative future by suspending the tariffs related to their respective WTO disputes for five years.
The United States and the EU agreed to clear principles, including their shared intent that any financing for the production or development of large civil aircraft be on market terms. The agreement also established a Working Group on large civil aircraft led by each side’s respective Minister responsible for trade. As part of the agreement, the United States and the European Union released an annex outlining a process to more effectively and strategically address the challenges posed by non-market economies.
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