Statement
Request for Comments on the U.S.EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Global Trade Challenges Working Group
Federation of German Industries e.V.
Date: October 21, 2024
1. With specific regard to the Trade Working Group's efforts to enhance inclusive and sustainable bilateral trade in goods and services, including through the use of digital tools, how might USTR and DG Trade further improve or expand cooperation in a manne that is mutually beneficial to U.S. and EU stakeholders..............................................................................4
2. With specific regard to the work of the Trade Working Group related to non-market policies and practices of third countries..........................................................................................4
How might USTR and DG Trade expand or enhance our cooperation and coordination of trade tools available to us or to create new tools? 4
How might USTR and DG Trade, respectively or in coordination, use existing tools more effectively to deter and counter nonmarket policies and practices? 5
Are there particular sectors that USTR and DG Trade should focus on? ....................................................................................5
Are there particular non-market policies and practices that are of greatest concern to you? Why? How do those non-market policies and practices hinder or harm your interests?.................6
What steps can USTR take to provide a wide-range of U.S. and EU stakeholders the opportunity to periodically provide suggestions, feedback, and input to the Trade Working Group? 6
Request for Comments on the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC)
Trade Challenges Working Group
General Comments
TheFederationofGerman Industries (BDI)welcomestheopportunity to provide comments on the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Global Challenges Working Group.
When the EU-U S Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was founded in 2021, stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic were hopeful that the forum would help to revitalize transatlantic economic cooperation. The TTC quickly becamethemost important forum of exchangebetween the European Commission and the US Administration on transatlantic economic cooperation. While the TTC has delivered some concrete outcomes especially on the technology policy side, it has fallen short of expectations of many business stakeholders, especially regarding trade policy outcomes. Therefore, USTR and DG Trade should put a bigger focus on expanding bilateral trade going forward.
Federation of German Industries
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Contact Anna Kantrup
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E-Mail: A.Kantrup@bdi.eu
Internet www.bdi.eu
Specific Comments on USTR questions
1. With specific regard to the Trade Working Group's efforts to enhance inclusive and sustainable bilateral trade in goods and services, including through the use of digital tools, how might USTR and DG Trade further improve or expand cooperation in a manner that is mutually beneficial to U.S. and EU stakeholders.
USTR and DG Trade should work towards the continuation of the TTC and put a stronger emphasis on enhancing bilateral trade and cooperation, since the forum quickly became the most important forum of exchange between the European Union and the U.S. Administration on transatlantic economic cooperation. While the TTC has delivered some concrete outcomes especially on the technology policy side, it has fallen short of expectations of many business stakeholders, especially regarding trade policy outcomes. USTR and DG Trade should ensure in the future that commercially meaningful outcomes are also achieved regarding trade.
Therefore, USTR and DG Trade should put a bigger focus on expanding bilateral trade, for example by reducing non-tariff barriers to trade through the mutual recognition of conformity assessment bodies and expanding the EUU.S. MRA to cover additional sectors and products, e.g. machinery and electrotechnical products or clean tech products. The Working Group should also take up the stakeholder recommendations that were delivered from the workshop of the Transatlantic Initiative on Sustainable Trade (TIST) in January 2024 to increase cooperation between the Unites States and the EU in this area.
Additionally, both sides should consider whether the work on the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum could be incorporated into the scope of Working Group 10 or the TIST.
2. With specific regard to the work of the Trade Working Group related to non-market policies and practices of third countries
How might USTR and DG Trade expand or enhance our cooperation and coordination of trade tools available to us or to create new tools?
Both sides should prioritize deepening ties with each other to ensure mutual economic security. Platforms like the Trade and Technology Council should enhance close cooperation on trade control, technology, and supply chain diversification. Deepening trade ties is necessary to give Transatlantic partners the business opportunities required to invest in resilience.
Therefore, the work of Working Group 10 should focus on reaching commercially meaningful outcomes that facilitate bilateral trade across the Atlantic
and reduce costs for businesses on both sides and thus supporting diversification and de-risking strategies of the United States as well as the EU. USTR and DG Trade need to work towards providing access to alternative markets or reduce trade friction between trusted partners for companies to meaningfully reduce dependencies on non-market actors and to invest in resilience.
How might USTR and DG Trade, respectively or in coordination, use existing tools more effectively to deter and counter non-market policies and practices?
Both USTR and DG Trade should use the TTC and Working Group 10 specifically to coordinate efforts to deter and counter non-market policies and practices. When using unilateral instruments, USTR and DG Trade must ensure that the respective partner is not adversely affected as it runs the risk of undermining the efforts and creates unnecessary strain on the transatlantic relationship. Additionally, these efforts should focus on high-risk areas such as certain raw material imports or the protection of critical infrastructure and technologies.
Additionally, the US and EU should use the TTC to increase efforts to coordinate industrial policy to ensure that efforts are complementary and create synergies between the EU and the United States. Discussions in the TTC should ensure that businesses on either side of the Atlantic are not put at a disadvantage by each other’s (industrial) policy measures as well as to ensure that efforts do not lead to a subsidy race. Industrial policy measures with regard to sustainability and the green transition can also be discussed within the TIST.
Are there particular sectors that USTR and DG Trade should focus on?
Regarding trade cooperation, USTR and DG Trade should focus on the following issues within the TTC:
Reaching an agreement on the mutual recognition of conformity assessment bodies and expanding the EU-US MRA to cover additional sectors and products, such as machinery and electrotechnical products or clean tech products;
Ensuring close EU-U S cooperation regarding the development of new standards and in international standard-setting bodies; Developing a work program for the TIST focusing on specific goals and outcomes, for example: facilitating circularity in electric vehicle batteries, the scaling up of the use of caron-neutral fuels, continuing the work on green public procurement or coordinating and agreeing on reporting requirements or mutual recognition of methodologies for calculating the carbon intensity of traded goods;
Are there particular non-market policies and practices that are of greatest concern to you? Why? How do those non-market policies and practices hinder or harm your interests?
From the view of German industry, the massive overcapacities that China is accumulating in areas such as steel, solar, wind, EVs or batteries is jeopardizing the sustainable and stable development of global markets and may slow down innovation in the long term instead of promoting it through healthy competition. There are worries that the EU single market will become a buffer for Chinese overcapacity. Unfortunately, this has been the experience of the international steel market in recent years.
What steps can USTR take to provide a wide-range of U.S. and EU stakeholders the opportunity to periodically provide suggestions, feedback, and input to the Trade Working Group?
Broad and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement is of great importance to ensure the success of the TTC and to ensure commercially meaningful outcomes. Therefore, stakeholders should be more directly involved in shaping the work and impact of the TTC. This should become a much bigger priority going forward. USTR and DG Trade should also try to align their stakeholder outreach as much as possible.
Stakeholder involvement and information to stakeholders about what the working groups were currently working on – and what sort of stakeholder input might be useful – varied across working groups. A much more streamlined process – one that also allows for structured feedback loops – could ensure that stakeholders are able to give targeted input. Additionally, both sides should provide points of contact for every working group whom stakeholders can engage with or direct questions to.
In addition, we recommend calls for input with specific questions to stakeholders (such as this call for comments). Business associations then need sufficient time to consult with the relevant experts within the associations or their member companies, i.e. to channel the information from the TTC working groups to therespectiveexperts,in orderto providethemost helpful feedback.
About BDI
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) communicates German industries’interests to thepolitical authorities concerned Sheoffersstrongsupport for companies in global competition. The BDI has access to a wide-spread network both within Germany and Europe, to all the important markets and to international organizations. The BDI accompanies the capturing of international markets politically. Also, she offers information and politico-economic guidance on all issues relevant to industries The BDI is the leading organization of German industries and related service providers. She represents 40 inter-trade organizations and more than 100.000 companies with their approximately 8 million employees. Membership is optional. 15 federal representations are advocating industries’ interests on a regional level.
Imprint
Federation of German Industries e.V. (BDI) Breite Straße 29, 10178 Berlin, Germany www.bdi.eu
T: +49 30 2028-0
German Lobbyregister Number: R000534
Contact
Anna Kantrup Department for External Economic Policy
T: +49 30 2028 1526 a.kantrup@bdi.eu
Julia Howald Department for External Economic Policy T: +49 30 2028 1483 j.howald@bdi.eu
Matthias Krämer Department for External Economic Policy T: +49 30 2028 1562 m.kraemer@bdi.eu
BDI document number: D1999