French Finance Chief Hopes for Change of Tone in EU-US Trade War With Biden Administration

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) �French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday said that bilateral sanctions in a trade conflict between Washington and Brussels were harmful to both parties and expressed hope that the tensions would be resolved after Joe Biden enters the White House.

"These sanctions are very detrimental. A trade war is not in the interests of the U.S. and not in the interest of Europe," Le Maire said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

The minister also said that he hoped to meet with the new US government in Washington next month.

The trade war between the United States and the 27-nation bloc broke out in 2018 under incumbent Donald Trump's tariffs strategy to change the national trade policy and reduce the trade deficit. The new duties largely affected a set of steel, aluminum, and other European goods, to which the EU responded with its tariffs on various US items. The tense trade relations between Brussels and Washington are also affected by long-term subsidy row over the US' Boeing and the EU's Airbus aircraft makers.