SPECIAL REPORTS

Reporter’s notebook: Wrapping up a sixth Trade and Technology Council summit

LEUVEN, BELGIUM -- U.S. and European Union officials left the sixth U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council ministerial on Friday with more pledges to collaborate on emerging technologies and a recommitment to preserving work on semiconductors, but with many of the most challenging trade-related issues still unresolved and no guarantee of the TTC’s survival past both parties’ impending elections. Amid the cobbled streets and stately red brick backdrop of the University of Leuven’s Faculty Club, the council announced a new dialogue...

EU, U.S. and partners bring Europe’s new raw materials ‘club’ into the MSP Forum

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – U.S. and European Union officials on Friday announced that a new “critical raw materials club,” created by the European Commission last month to foster closer ties between battery material producers and users, will be incorporated into the U.S.-led Minerals Security Partnership Forum. In March, the EU adopted legislation creating a critical raw materials club to strengthen relationships with international partners and shore up supply chains, according to a Council of the European Union statement . Secretary of...

U.S., EU reaffirm cooperation on emerging tech and green trade, weigh next steps

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – The U.S. and the European Union reaffirmed commitments to collaborate on emerging technology and green trade at the sixth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council on Friday, announcing new partnerships on artificial intelligence and 6G, extending cooperation on semiconductor supply chains and pledging to solicit stakeholder input on the TTC’s future. “The cooperation between the European Union and the United States continues to be the bedrock for dealing with such global challenges, and the...

Trade and Technology Council summit opens as officials temper expectations on deliverables

LEUVEN, BELGIUM -- Senior U.S. and European Union officials descended on Leuven, Belgium, Thursday for the beginning of the sixth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, expressing optimism about progress made to date but seeking to temper expectations for concrete outcomes on some of the bigger trans-Atlantic initiatives. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, a TTC co-chair, said the council was about more than “transacting and producing deliverables on a six-month basis.” “That completely misses the point of...

Raimondo, Vestager: Stakeholders must continue what the TTC has started

Stakeholders must “continue the work” and “stay engaged” to advance the goals of the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council regardless of what happens to the forum itself, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Thursday – a sentiment echoed by one of her counterparts on the EU side. U.S. and EU officials are in Leuven, Belgium, this week for the final TTC ministerial before elections on both sides of the Atlantic. Senior EU officials this week said they don’t anticipate...

EU readout of the third European Union-U.S. Trade and Labor Dialogue meeting

April 4 readout

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U.S.-EU critical minerals agreement ‘not foreseen’ at trade and tech summit

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – The U.S. and the European Union are unlikely to finalize a critical minerals agreement before the close of the sixth U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council ministerial on Friday, a senior European Commission official said on Wednesday. A draft version of the TTC joint statement obtained by Inside U.S. Trade included bracketed language stating that the two parties would either announce an “agreement in principle” or “continuing negotiations” at the TTC meeting here this week. But the...

EU officials optimistic that TTC work is election-proof – but preparing for all outcomes

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – Much of the technical work undertaken by U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council working groups likely will continue beyond both parties’ elections later this year, senior European Commission officials said on Wednesday – but just in case, they are preparing for all outcomes. “We do not anticipate too much disruption in the ongoing work that is taking place in these various working groups,” a senior Commission official told reporters in a press call on Wednesday. “There is...

Stakeholders: U.S., EU talking ‘same language’ on labor, but ambitious outcomes unlikely

LEUVEN, BELGIUM – The tripartite Trade and Labor Dialogue established by the U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council has opened a new frontier for trans-Atlantic collaboration that reflects the Biden administration’s worker-centric trade priorities, but ambitious outcomes that build on industry and labor recommendations are unlikely at the sixth TTC ministerial this week, stakeholders say. The TALD was launched on the sidelines of the third TTC ministerial in December 2022, bringing together U.S. and European Commission officials, trade unions and...

Tai’s Belgium itinerary set: Two days of TTC meetings, side events

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is set to travel to Leuven, Belgium, later this week for the sixth U.S.-European Union Trade and Technology Council ministerial as well as a closed-door meeting with labor and business stakeholders and a public event about the future of trans-Atlantic trade relations, according to an itinerary issued on Monday. She will be in Belgium April 4-5, her office said in her schedule . Officials are eyeing a host of outcomes for the ministerial, set to...

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