BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission is analysing the trade deal struck last week between the United States and Britain for implications for the 27-nation European Union and global trade, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday.
The United States and Britain announced a deal to lower tariffs on some goods last Thursday, with U.S. levies on cars and steel being cut and both sides gaining better access to agriculture markets.
“We are currently closely analysing the content… to assess its …potential implications particularly as regards any effects on EU interests or the global broader global trade environment,” Dombrovskis said.
The EU itself is in negotiations with Washington on its own trade deal that would replace 20% across the board tariffs on most EU goods and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars and car parts.
The U.S. has set a 90-day negotiating window ending on July 8 for a deal. Until then, tariffs on most EU goods are 10%, except the higher 25% rates on steel, aluminium and cars.
“Negotiations between EU and the U.S. are ongoing and we aim to make use of this 90 day period… with the aim of reaching a negotiated solution, which is our first preference as we have been indicating,” Dombrovskis said.
He noted that at the same time, the EU was preparing for a no-deal outcome. The European Commission proposed last Thursday countermeasures on up to 95 billion euros ($107 billion) of U.S. imports if negotiations with Washington fail to remove the series of tariffs applied by U.S. President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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