In December, the World Trade Organization’s appellate body, which acts as a supreme court for international trade disputes, became paralyzed after the Trump administration repeatedly blocked the appointment of new judges.
The White House and Brussels are essentially without an arbitrator, at a time when EU officials say Trump appears strengthened by his acquittal in the impeachment process, and has amped up his polarizing rhetoric.
“We have allies. We have enemies. Sometimes the allies are enemies, but we just don’t know it,” Trump said at a prayer breakfast in Washington last week, remarks that have put European officials on edge.
After a positive first meeting between Trump and the new leader of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, Trump, in a surprise move, expanded steel tariffs first put in place in 2018.
EU officials say they are trying to move the relationship forward in a “transactional” manner.
Tomas Baert, head of trade and agriculture for the EU’s delegation in Washington, said on Friday that EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan will travel to Washington monthly to try to work out a limited deal “that is tweetable.” Such a deal would allow Trump “to say that we went from the worst trade relationship to the best relationship,” Baert said.
That doesn’t mean, however, that Europe will be consuming “chlorinated chicken,” he said, or buying genetically modified agricultural products, referring to U.S. practices shunned in Europe.
TARIFF THREAT LOOMS
The Trump administration, which has pursued an “America First” agenda aimed at rebalancing global trade flows in favor of the United States, has threatened to levy 25% tariffs on foreign cars and parts from Europe.
