During the plenary session (9-10 October 2019) of the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs debate on US tariffs on European goods following WTO's decision on the Airbus dispute. Statements by Carlos MOEDAS, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation, Bernd LANGE (S&D, DE), Reinhard BÜTIKOFER (Greens/EFA, DE), Brian MONTEITH (NI, UK), Paolo DE CASTRO (S&D, IT) and Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA (RE, ES).

US tariffs on European goods following WTO's decision on the Airbus dispute: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Carlos MOEDAS, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation, So we should avoid overreaction and respect our international obligations. An arbitrator will in some months decide in the parallel Boeing case what level of countermeasures the EU will be entitled to apply on U.S. imports.

SOUNDBITE (English), Carlos MOEDAS, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation, We must have in mind that new highly subsidised competitors from China and Russia are preparing to enter this market in may seriously disrupted if we don't take urgent action.

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LANGE (S&amp;D, DE), It's a scandalous situation because there is a ratcheting up now and we must take action even if it's difficult to negotiate with President Trump.

SOUNDBITE (English), Reinhard B&#220;TIKOFER (Greens/EFA, DE), Hopefully some of our American colleagues would be on our side of this conflict over multilateralism in the global trade order and I believe we can use this particular experience to argue very simply WTO works. Let's not destroy it. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Brian MONTEITH (NI, UK), These are the UK tax proposals for when we leave the EU. They are substantially lower than the EU's. Thanks to Brexit, tariffs on U.S. whiskey and bourbon will be reduced to be abolished. I expect Donald Trump to do the same for the scotch malt whisky.Thank goodness we have a lifeboat.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Paolo DE CASTRO (S&amp;D, IT), After the crisis with Russia, we now face a commercial reprisal from elsewhere. Commissioner, we cannot be left unprepared. What is the Commission planning to do to prepare for a market crisis that could seriously impact our parmigiano, our olive oil and our wine? We must come alongside our citizens and businesses.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA (RE, ES), Protectionism harms everyone, so we must persist on a better scope for dialogue and harness the skills and the networks that were built when we were negotiating the TTIP. I report this threat as a bad governance trick how the US aviation industry has been hit and what happened with the Boeing B-737 Max model, without which we would not be in this situation. I do stand up for EU environmental and social standards which are the best way of protecting our products before consumers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Carlos MOEDAS, Member of the EC in charge of Research, Science and Innovation, Hopefully, the US announcement that is willing to find a negotiated solution will be followed by deeds. And as indicated before, both sides should have an interest in finally closing the longstanding dispute also in the light of new engines in the aircraft markets.

US tariffs on European goods following WTO's decision on the Airbus dispute: extracts from the debate

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