Political Implications of US‐EC Economic Conflicts (I) Euro‐American Turbulence—The Trade Issue

Extract

TRADE QUARRELS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE have featured as a daily item in newspapers for some time, often even on the front page. Thus the New York Times in June 1986 carried a headline: ‘Reagan's tougher trade stand – policy shift angers Allies’. At the same time, the EC Council of ministers meeting in Luxembourg rejected American criticism of EC trade practices; in particular, the ministers underlined that EC support for exports of agricultural products could only be discussed in the framework of GATT, and only if other direct and indirect support schemes were also submitted to that forum. That same day, the Uruguayan leader Mr Sanguinetti complained bitterly that he did not manage to sell meat on his traditional markets, as the Americans and the Europeans undercut prices by more than 50 per cent. . . One could go on and on like this.