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16 1 Europe not choosing sides in U.S.-China trade dispute Reuters Staff - APRIL 21, 2018 / 6:42 PM / A DAY AGO WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe will not choose sides in the trade dispute between the United States and China, a top European official said on Saturday, adding that the European Union s temporary exemptions from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs should become permanent. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said trade was one of the main issues discussed with U.S. officials on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week in Washington. Moscovici told Reuters he had met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Trade wars are like all wars - they are destructive, he said in an interview. We must find a soft landing in the debate that is ongoing. This means first finding a way between the U.S. and the EU to... move from a temporary exemption to a definitive exemption, he said. We are discussing it actively in a quite constructive spirit with our American friends and I am hopeful that we will have this decision by the 1st of May, he said, referring to the date on which the temporary exemption for the EU expires. EU anger was stoked last month when President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports to counter what he has described as unfair international competition. A number of countries, including those in the EU, were granted temporary exemptions. Trump also has announced tariffs on Chinese goods, prompting retaliation by Beijing and fueling fears of a global trade war. Moscovici said China needed to implement reforms and show openness in trade and solve the question of over-capacity in steel production, but he added that it should be done through the World Trade Organisation rather than a trade war. Europe would not side with either the U.S. or China, he said. This is not the way things need to be addressed. Choosing one side would mean that we enter into the climate of confrontation and this is not the way things need to be handled. Certainly there are imbalances and they need to be addressed, certainly there are problems and they need to be resolved, but not through confrontation, he said. Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Paul Simao Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

17 1 POLITICO Mexico s EU trade deal lands a punch on Trump Accord with Brussels comes as Washington squeezes Latin American country in NAFTA talks. By Hans von der Burchard and Christian Oliver 4/21/18, 10:40 PM CET - Updated 4/22/18, 11:17 PM CET Mexico delivered a defiant political riposte to U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday by agreeing a trade deal with the EU. Trump s push to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement helped catalyze Mexico s talks with Brussels over the past year, as the Latin American country sought to diversify away from dependence on an increasingly hostile U.S. Diplomats said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto had given instructions that negotiators should attempt to seal an agreement before Sunday s opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe, a major trade fair in Germany, where both will be present. Mexico is the partner country of the event this year. The deal is a major upgrade of an original accord struck in 2000, which covered basic goods and machinery. The new pact will branch out into sectors such as finance, e-commerce and agriculture. Peña Nieto said the agreement confirms us as priority partners of one of the most important economic blocs in the world. Saturday s deal was an agreement in principle, which means it will still need fine-tuning in the coming months. In a thinly veiled side-swipe at Trump s protectionism, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that such deals were possible when both partners share a clear belief in the merits of openness, and of free and fair trade. She added that it was an accord fit for the economic and political challenges of the 21st century. Trump shuns Democrats and media with Macron state dinner Matthew Nussbaum A statement from the EU said that the deal would ensure almost entirely tariff-free trade in all goods, including agricultural products, while simplifying customs procedures in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and transport. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan, who was involved in the negotiations, said the upgraded accord would be very positive for Europe s food sector. While a deal with Europe has heavy political significance, Trump s renegotiation of NAFTA has far greater economic consequences for Mexico. The country exported some $340 billion of goods and services to the U.S. last year, but only 28.8 billion worth to the EU.

18 2 Political deal Saturday s deal was an agreement in principle, which means it will still need fine-tuning in the coming months. A breakthrough had seemed tantalizingly close at the end of 2017 but negotiators failed to bridge differences over the local content requirements in cars and protections for Europe s gourmet food labels. Talks moved up a gear this week, however. Europe s chief negotiator Helena König and her Mexican counterpart César Guerra kicked off marathon talks on Monday. On Wednesday, Mexican Trade Undersecretary Juan Carlos Baker arrived in Brussels to offer more political impetus in discussions with the EU trade department s director general, Jean-Luc Demarty. Discussions over local content had proved extremely difficult until the very last moment. The EU insisted that 55 percent of vehicles must be made out of parts and materials from Europe or Mexico, while Mexico demanded more flexibility on using foreign content such as components from the United States. The discussions had been complicated by the ongoing NAFTA negotiation between Mexico, the United States and Canada, in which Washington has made tough demands for a higher percentage of car parts being produced on U.S. soil. In their talks with the EU on agriculture, the Mexicans demanded better market access for beef naturally a difficult request for some EU countries, such as France and Ireland. The Mexicans, in return, were struggling with the EU s desire to lift barriers on dairy exports like cheese and milk powder. The EU also said it would be able to greatly expand its pork exports. Europe s request to include geographical indications also proved as a thorny issue. The U.S. had long lobbied Mexico to not accept the system, which protects iconic food names such as Champagne that can only be sold under the original name if they come from the respective producing region. Mexico finally accepted the concept. The Commission said the final deal would offer protection from copies for 340 distinctive European foods and drink products in Mexico such as Queijo São Jorge cheese from Portugal and Szegedi szalámi from Hungary.