Brussels, 28 August (Argus) — The European Commission today released proposals to grant zero tariffs for certain US products. The offer is in response to the US’ ceiling of 15pc applied to all EU exports and will have to be approved by the European Parliament and EU states.
The EU is offering to apply 0pc tariffs to fertilisers, plastics, machinery, cars and car parts, wood and pulp of wood products, paper and paperboard, ceramics and leather, and for certain seafood and certain non-sensitive agricultural products. In general, the tariff reductions are implemented via product-specific tariff rate quotas (TRQs), including a TRQ of 25,000t for pig meat and 400,000t for crude soya-bean oil.
The commission confirmed again that the proposals do not include “sensitive” agricultural products such as beef, poultry or ethanol. But the EU’s offer does list mineral fuels, mineral oils, bituminous and inorganic and organic chemicals. It has also offered to remove import tariffs on US-origin polyethylene (PE).
A senior EU official said it is important for the EU to move away from dependency on Russian fertilisers. The move is “very commonsensical” and ensures that farmers have access to affordable fertilisers. Another senior official noted that the EU plastics sector is under pressure, but US imports do not come from a low-cost economy. A safeguard provision also allows the EU to suspend imports.
Once approved by the EU parliament and EU states, the commission expects that the US would implement an agreed 15pc tariff ceiling for EU cars and car parts, in line with the EU-US joint statement, retroactively from 1 August.
by Dafydd ab Iago
