We're still awaiting an official announcement but it looks like the EU & US have reached an agreement to a five-year truce on the Boeing/Airbus trade dispute.
This dispute is 17 years old but it majorly escalated during the Trump years. This is a big thaw in EU-US tensions.
The 5-year truce will be accompanied by a new understanding of what is and isn’t acceptable for aircraft subsidies.
President @vonderleyen says today's agreement "opens a new chapter in our relationship because we move from litigation to cooperation on aircraft, after almost 20 years of disputes"
"It is the longest trade dispute in the history of the WTO"
VDL says the two sides have decided to set up a "EU-US Trade And Technology Council"
"We want to expand US trade an investments, but we also want to discuss how we avoid new unjustified technical barriers".
VDL says they've also decided to set up an "EU-US Vaccines Task Force" to get doses out to the world and end the pandemic.
"This is a joint priority, this is a joint responsibility...and you know all the issues we had in the past 6 months".
VDL on #China: "if it comes to the system itself, to human rights and human dignity, we are systemic rivals without any question. It was very clear at the #G7 we have to speak up on that".
She says the EU has tools to protect itself from unfair Chinese competition.
President Michel on #Russia: "The 27 member states are united"
"With US & other like-minded partners, it's important not only to react to authoritarian regimes trying to put pressure on us. We need a proactive strategy"
VDL says EU-Russia relationship is on a "negative spiral"
Talks on ending #Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs were not as successful as the aircraft talks.
VDL says more time is needed to find a solution by which those Trump tariffs on EU can be ended.
VDL: "The EU was entitled to take counter-measures right before this summit. We didn't do that. We said let's sit down and sort this out...but we need a bit more time, it's too complex to solve in a weekend."
VDL asked if she & Michel explained to #Biden their concept of "European sovereignty" & "strategic autonomy"
"We didn't touch upon this specific term, but [Biden] clearly acknowledged the last 4 years were difficult and that the world has changed, but Europe has also changed."
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