WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2021) The Biden administration's top negotiator on international trade and the vice president of the European Commission have pledged to finally resolve their long-running trade dispute on subsidies for their respective civilian aircraft industries, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said.
"US Trade Representative Katherine Tai today met virtually with European Commission (EC) Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis to discuss opportunities to strengthen economic ties between the United States and the European Union and resolve the long-running dispute over large civil aircraft subsidies," the USTR said in a readout of the conversation on Friday.
Tai expressed her commitment to finding a permanent solution before the tariff suspension expires in July that would level the playing field and create a platform for future cooperation to address the shared challenges from non-market economies, such as China, the USTR said.
Tai and Dombrovskis "also discussed the need to increase vaccine production, and the proposed waiver to certain provisions of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the COVID-19 pandemic," the readout said.
Tai highlighted the Biden-Harris administration's support for the waiver of intellectual property for coronavirus vaccines and her commitment to text-based negotiations at the WTO and explained how this effort supports the administration's comprehensive effort to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution around the world, the readout added.
