Britain on Thursday said it had agreed on a truce with the United States over a 17-year long tariffs dispute involving European planemaker Airbus and US rival Boeing.
It comes in the wake of a similar deal between the European Union and U.S. announced Tuesday.
The dispute, the longest-running in the history of the World Trade Organization, has seen damaging retaliatory tariffs levied on products on both sides of the Atlantic owing to disagreements over support for large civilian aircraft, the U.K. government explained in a statement Thursday.
But both sides have finally agreed “to suspend retaliatory tariffs for five years,” it added.
The agreement followed talks between Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
The deal ensures retaliatory tariffs on products including Scotch whisky are suspended.
“Today’s deal draws a line under an incredibly damaging issue,” said Truss.
She added that it meant the U.K. could now focus on taking its “trading relationship with the US to the next level,” as Britain seeks to strike a post-Brexit free-trade agreement with the world’s biggest economy.
Truss added that the two countries would also work “more closely to challenge unfair practices by nations like China and using the power of free trade to build back better from the pandemic.”
President Joe Biden and the EU also agreed a long-term truce in the Airbus-Boeing feud as they seek to put aside disputes and deal with rising challenges from China. (AFP)
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