United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and European Union Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton have pledged to intensify bilateral talks on a range of trade issues with the goal of bringing “meaningful benefits” to businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting in Washington on July 13, Ashton and Kirk promised to “redouble our efforts” to resolve bilateral trade disagreements, building on the successful conclusion to the long-standing beef hormone dispute last month.
“Through intensified bilateral engagement, we believe we can find solutions that bring meaningful economic benefits to stakeholders on both sides. We instructed our negotiators to identify and exploit new opportunities for market-opening and economic integration,” the statement said.
“Two months ago we registered our first success under this effort to intensify bilateral engagement: the May US-EU Memorandum of Understanding relating to the beef hormones dispute, which underscored that even disagreements that have persisted for many years can sometimes be set on a course towards resolution through pragmatic, problem-solving approaches,” the statement added.
Among the issues discussed by the two trade representatives was the possible lifting of EU emergency measures requiring that all US shipments of long-grain rice be tested prior to entering the EU for the trace presence of a biotech rice product approved in the United States but not approved in the EU.
Other issues included the US Copyright Act, also known as the “Irish music” dispute, chemical regulations in the EU and US, and legislation in the US which has banned online gambling.
The continuing efforts of the EU and other World Trade Organization members to reach an agreement on the terms of the EU’s importation regime for bananas was also discussed by Ashton and Kirk.
“We plan to monitor each of these issues closely, and we look forward to reviewing progress in addressing them in September,” the statement informed.
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