TO Brussels define it zero on zeroin Italy The term is more football: zero to zero. The meaning does not change: the Pilastro of the negotiating strategy ofEuropean Union with the United States it is having zero duties from both sides of theAtlantic on industrial goodswhich include car And drugs. The proposal was put on the American table by European Commerce Commissioner, Maros Sefcovicalready last February. But for now it does not seem to collect the expected interest.
The Americans they look in particular in the so -called Non -tariff commercial barriers And in this list they insert theVATThe EU quality standards on the agri -food and the regulation of digital services companies. All very sensitive elements for the European Commission.
“The EU standardin particular those relating to diet, Health And safetyare sacrosanct. Are not part of the negotiation And they will never do it, nor with the United Statesnor with no one else », guaranteed the EU spokesperson for trade, Olof Gill. “On theVAT We don’t want to go into details, but we want to reassure the European citizens than theirs Health It is not on the negotiation table, “confirmed the spokesperson for the Commission, Arianna Podestà. Von der leyen he had already clarified to Financial Times that theVAT it did not depend onEU.
There EU strategy It is based on four points. The President Ursula von der Leyen In a long interview with the German weekly Die Zeit: «The first is that we are trying to negotiate a solution. Parallel to the negotiations, we are developing countermeasures that focus on trade both of goods that of services. All options are on the table. The second point is that we must be very vigilant so that the Chinese goods do not inhab our market now due to the Commercial war between the United States and China. Therefore, we have protection measures in progress. The third point is that we must build New partnerships and establish wider commercial relations. The fourth point is that we have to eliminate barriers In the single marketdeepen and harmonize it ».
The comparison of Monday in Washington Between Sefcovic and his American counterparts – the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick and the representative for trade, Jamieson Greer – focused on three points: the Proposal to work towards mutual duties zero on zero on all industrial goodsincluding the cars; theexcess of global production capacity in the sectors of thesteel and of thealuminum; and the Resilience of EU-USA supply chains in the sectors of semiconductors and gods pharmaceutical products.
“We have countermeasures suspended on unjustified commercial duties of the United States To give time and space to the negotiations betweenEU they United Statesand we will do everything possible to ensure that a negotiation agreement and a positive outcome at the end of this process. But we also clarified that, while these interviews they continue parallel, we will continue to prepare for the potential scenariowhich we hope does not materialize, of a situation of “No deal», Because, while we speak today, the EU exports to the United States they are obviously subject to 10% duties and, in some cases, like steel, aluminum And carsof 25%. We therefore want these negotiations proceed quickly, which reaches one positive conclusionand we will do everything possible to guarantee a positive outcome. But in parallel, we must prepare for it scenario of a “no deal”», The Commissioner to Justice, Michael McGrath.