Union seeks peace with US over tech goods

The EU has extended an olive branch to the US in a bid to settle an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the application of a decade-old zero-tariff agreement on hi-tech goods.

EU trade negotiators have invited their US counterparts for talks amid speculation that Washington may file a case against Brussels at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Information Technology Agreement, an opt-in zero-tariff regime, has 70 signatories representing 97% of the IT sector. It was originally intended to apply only to hi-tech business products. In recent years, however, the US has lobbied to include increasingly sophisticated consumer goods such as cameras in the scope of the agreement.

"We have offered meetings at expert level. But frankly they stand on very flimsy ground," said an EU trade official.

The EU claims that member states have, in any case, extended duty-free treatment to consumer goods on a voluntary basis. The US, which is said to be rallying the support of Asian countries, would face strong opposition from India, said the official.

"The only country that may support them is Japan," she added. "It is purely a matter of profit. The professional market covered by the agreement is saturated. So now they want to drop duties for consumer electronics."

The US has so far not taken the EU up on its offer of a negotiated solution.

• US subsidies to aircraft company Boeing in 2004-06 caused $27 billion (€19bn) in losses to EU rival Airbus, according to EU estimates delivered at a WTO hearing yesterday (26 September). The EU accused the US federal authorities of handing out $23.7bn in illegal subsidies to Boeing.

The EU has extended an olive branch to the US in a bid to settle an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the application of a decade-old zero-tariff agreement on hi-tech goods.