'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The deal the United States and the European Union reached Tuesday to end their long-running dispute over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus will mean the phase-out of billions in punitive tariffs. It will ease trans-Atlantic tensions. And it will allow the two sides to focus on a common economic threat: China.
But the breakthrough leaves other trade frictions between the U.S. and the EU unresolved. Most prominently, the import taxes that President Donald Trump imposed on European steel and aluminum three years ago have been left in place by President Joe Biden. Whether progress on that vexing issue can be resolved soon remains unclear.
But on the Boeing-Airbus dispute, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the two sides have come to terms on a five-year agreement to suspend the tariffs at the center of the conflict. Tai cautioned, though, that the tariffs could be re-imposed if U.S. companies aren't able to "compete fairly" with those in Europe.
"Today's announcement resolves a long-standing irritant in the U.S.-EU relationship," Tai said, as Biden met with EU leaders in Brussels. "Instead of fighting with one of our closest allies, we are finally coming together against a common threat."
The deal brings a fresh dose of international goodwill for Biden as he heads into a potentially thorny summit on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It's also good news for an airlines sector that has been ravaged by coronavirus travel restrictions.
The trade dispute skyrocketed under the Trump administration, and saw tit-for-tat duties slapped on a range of companies that have nothing to do with aircraft production, from French winemakers to German cookie bakers in Europe and U.S. spirits producers in the United States, among many others.
The U.S. imposed what could have amounted to $7.5 billion in tariffs on European exports in 2019 after the World Trade Organization ruled that the EU had not complied with its rulings on subsidies for Airbus, which is based in France. The EU retaliated last November with up to $4 billion in punitive duties after the WTO ruled that the U.S. had provided illegal subsidies to Seattle-based Boeing.
In March, weeks after Biden had taken office, the two sides agreed to suspend the tariffs. That suspension started on March 11 for four months. The new agreement will officially go into effect on July 11.
"This really opens a new chapter in our relationship because we move from litigation to cooperation on aircraft -- after 17 years of dispute," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "It is the longest trade dispute in the history of the WTO."
Both sides said they would also work together to analyze and address the "non-market practices of third parties that may harm our large civil aircraft sectors," according to the EU's executive branch.
Tai said they would cooperate "to challenge and counter China's non-market practices in this sector in specific ways that reflect our standards for fair competition. "
Airbus, which is headquartered in France but also has centers in Germany and Spain, welcomed the agreement.
"This will provide the basis to create a level playing field which we have advocated for since the start of this dispute. It will also avoid lose-lose tariffs that are only adding to the many challenges that our industry faces," an Airbus spokesperson said in a statement.
France's finance and European affairs ministers also hailed the deal.
"We are now going to be able to focus on finally putting these differences behind us, and to define the conditions for fair competition on a global scale to support the aerospace sector, which is strategic for both Europe and the United States," they said in a joint statement.
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier described it as "an important signal for trans-Atlantic cooperation and the new beginning in trans-Atlantic relations."
"We need fewer, and not more, tariffs, because tariffs ultimately cause damage on both sides of the Atlantic," Altmaier said in a statement. "Today's agreement is above all a great relief for the German exporters that had special tariffs imposed."
Despite the breakthrough, the deal does not end the Trump-era trans-Atlantic trade row. The former U.S. president also slapped duties on EU steel and aluminum. That move enraged European countries, most of them NATO allies, because it was justified as a measure to protect U.S. national security.
The so-called Section 232 proceeding both hurts European producers and raises the cost of steel for American companies. The EU retaliated by raising tariffs on products like U.S.-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans.
But von der Leyen said that to secure progress on Airbus-Boeing, the EU agreed to hold fire for six months on a set of steel and aluminum-related counter measures it could have imposed just before this summit. She expressed cautious optimism that a deal could be reached here too by year's end.
------
AP writers Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man was slashed in downtown Toronto on Sunday.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.