According to a release published by the USTR last week, the United States is adjusting tariffs on certain products imported from the European Union. The U.S. was authorized in October 2019 to impose additional duties on approximately $7.5 billion in EU products as a result of the WTO Large Civil Aircraft litigation.
According to the release, the EU used trade data from a period when trade volumes were drastically reduced because of the economic implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, with the result that the EU was imposing tariffs on substantially more products than would have been covered if it had used a “normal period.” In response, the USTR announced that to maintain proportionality, the United States would change its reference period to the same period used by the EU, but would adjust the product coverage by less than the full amount that could be justified using the EU’s chosen time period.
The products subject to the additional U.S. tariffs include:
Aircraft manufacturing parts from France and Germany
Certain non-sparkling wine from France and Germany
Certain cognac and other grape brandies from France and Germany