Grassley Favors Lifting Tariffs on Airbus List, European Metal
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that a year ago, he would not have agreed with the European proposal to drop the Airbus/Boeing tariffs on both sides, to create space for negotiations to settle the case. “But with this administration trying to open things up with Europe and having a more multilateral approach to trade ... anything we can do to reduce tensions between Europe and the United States should be done,” he told International Trade Today during a call with reporters Feb. 23.
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Grassley said he also thinks Section 232 tariffs on European metals should be lifted as part of that effort to reduce tensions.
He said he wants to hear from U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai during her confirmation hearing about efforts to unify Europe, China, the U.S., South Korea and Japan to deal with China. Grassley, a member of the Finance Committee that is holding the hearing, said he will ask Tai either in writing or during the hearing “what they're going to do to police China keeping up to phase one.” He noted that $80 billion of what China promised to buy across two years is agricultural products.
He said he's interested in what the Biden administration's goals are for the World Trade Organization, and the appellate body, which disbanded because the U.S. blocked appointments to it.
“And then the U.K.-U.S. free trade agreement that’s been stalled now because of change of administration, I hope they're going to go ahead on that,” he said.