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View Full Version : U.S. courts allies with free trade offers at G20, France resists




Swordsmyth
07-22-2018, 12:10 PM
The United States sought to woo Europe and Japan with free trade deals on Saturday to gain leverage in an escalating tariff war with China but its overtures faced stiff resistance from France at a G20 finance ministers meeting dominated by trade tensions.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at the gathering of the financial leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies in Buenos Aires that he was renewing President Donald Trump’s proposal that G7 allies drop trade barriers between them.
“If Europe believes in free trade, we’re ready to sign a free trade agreement,” Mnuchin said, adding that such a deal would require the elimination of tariffs, non-tariff barriers and subsidies. “It has to be all three issues.”


French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the European Union would not consider launching trade talks with the United States unless Trump first withdraws the steel and aluminum tariffs and stands down on a car tariff threat.
“We refuse to negotiate with a gun to our head,” Le Maire told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

More at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-g20-argentina/u-s-courts-allies-with-free-trade-offers-at-g20-france-resists-idUKKBN1KB0KE

Swordsmyth
07-23-2018, 12:25 AM
The United States’ removal of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports is not a necessary precondition for trade talks between the United States and the European Union to begin, the European Council representative to the G20 Hubert Fuchs said on Sunday.

“We are representing 28 member states of the European Union, not only Germany and France. We shouldn’t have any preconditions for the talks,” Fuchs, also Austria’s state secretary for finance, said in an interview. “It’s not a precondition because preconditions are never good, but it would be a great wish.”

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g20-argentina-eu/tariffs-removal-not-needed-for-e-u-u-s-talks-european-council-representative-idUSKBN1KC0LD?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28Bus iness+News%29