European Union countries gave initial clearance on Thursday to start formal trad...
BRUSSELS - European Union countries gave initial clearance on Thursday to start formal trade talks with the United States, EU sources said, a move designed but not guaranteed to smooth strained relations between the world’s two largest economies.
The Commission presented its mandates in January and found support from most EU members. France resisted, however, insisting that agriculture should not feature in the talks but that climate change provisions should — a difficult demand given U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
A joint EU/U.S. statement in July referred to a goal of removing tariffs on “non-auto industrial goods”.National ministers will still need to give final approval, although they would normally do so without debate. One source said the mandates had been added to the agenda of an agriculture ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday.
France, with very few U.S. car exports, had been seeking to push the issue beyond the European Parliament election in May, convinced that dealing with Trump is not a vote winner.
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