Tariff Negotiations: US-EU Still Entangled in the Numbers of Trade Deficit Before Talks

The European Union, which has not yet held tariff negotiations with the United States, is preparing its "battlefield." In an interview published in the British "Financial Times" on April 1st, EU Trade Commissioner Šefčovič said that the EU is willing to quickly resolve the trade deficit of approximately 50 billion euros with the United States, including purchasing American natural gas, soybeans, or other products. However, this figure is significantly different from the over 300 billion US dollars trade deficit mentioned by U.S. President Trump.

Since Trump initiated the tariff war, the European Commission has used a comprehensive assessment number that adds up goods trade and services trade as evidence. Although the EU has nearly a 200 billion euro surplus in goods trade with the U.S., it has a deficit in services trade with the U.S. After adding and subtracting these figures, the commission argues that by 2023, the "EU will only have a small surplus of 4.8 billion euros with the United States."

However, Trump ignores the fact that the U.S. has always been "profitable" in services trade with the EU. He insists that the U.S. trade deficit in goods with Europe is 300 billion US dollars, or even 350 billion US dollars. This exceeds the 2024 data from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR): the U.S. trade deficit in goods with the EU is 235.6 billion US dollars.

In order to address the challenge of calculating the trade deficit numbers, the EU has shown willingness to purchase American natural gas and agricultural products like soybeans as a "olive branch." In the interview, EU Trade Commissioner Šefčovič said: "If we consider our trade deficit to be 50 billion euros, I believe we can indeed... quickly solve this problem through purchasing liquefied natural gas [LNG], soybeans, and some other agricultural products or other areas."

Moreover, a spokesperson for the Commission's trade area emphasized at a regular press conference on May 2nd that Commission President von der Leyen had previously proposed purchasing American natural gas, so the EU's position remains unchanged. All options for trade talks with the U.S. are negotiable, with the goal of reaching an agreement beneficial to both sides.

Source: rfi

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831051898527755/

Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's personal views.