The European Union has “great expectations” of a new U.S. president and hopes the United States will re-engage in multilateral trade talks, EU officials said on Monday.
EU ministers responsible for trade were meeting by video conference on Monday, two days after Democrat Joe Biden clinched the presidency. President Donald Trump, with whom Europe has had strained relations, has not conceded and is making legal challenges to the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.
“There are great expectations and the hope that the American presidential elections will lead to a return to multilateral engagement in international trade and that it will be possible to overcome past conflicts,” German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told a news conference before the ministers met.
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said the European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27 EU member states, had made some informal contacts with Team Biden.
“So some first contacts have been made, among other things also to discuss trade issues,” he said.
The EU wants the United States to remove U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium and resolve a dispute over civil aircraft subsidies for planemakers Boeing and Airbus.
Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden knew Germany well and added that it was crucial to keep working on the relationship between the United States and Germany.
Merkel said the partners needed to work together to tackle issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and terrorism.
