Undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto will be visiting Washington on Monday and Tuesday.
The mission takes place in the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to increase duties on aluminium and steel products, during discussions on the possible implementation by some European countries of a digital services tax concerning which the United States threatens commercial retaliation and just over two weeks after the announcement of the potential increase in duties on European products following the Airbus subsidies ruling.
Undersecretary Scalfarotto, as highlighted to the European Commissioner Hogan in the last few days, will express during the visit to the American interlocutors of the White House, USTR, Department of Commerce, Department of State and Congress, the position of the Italian Government strongly opposed to further penalties for our Made in Italy, which we consider counterproductive for the American importers themselves. Italy is against trade wars, which can have devastating effects on a worldwide level.
“We hope that our American friends can agree that an escalation of trade tensions would only end up penalising businesses and consumers in the US and Europe and depress both economies. In particular, just few months after the WTO ruling on the Boeing subsidies that will authorise the EU to impose duties similar to what the US did in October with the tariffs that penalised some of our agri-food products, we believe that the coming weeks must put aside the mutual threats and commit ourselves to a fair agreement between the parties able to secure the mutual benefits arising from trade (both goods and services) as well as investment flows” – concluded Scalfarotto.
