Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), The EU, and the US have been urged to “redouble efforts” to promote transatlantic trade.
The appeal comes just ahead of a key meeting between the two sides this week.
As holder of the current presidency of the Council of the European Union, Belgium will host the sixth meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council TTC on 4 and 5 April in the university town of Leuven.
Speaking on Wednesday, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer commented: “The ministerial meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council in Leuven is the last one before the elections on both sides of the Atlantic.
“BusinessEurope and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce call on the European Union and the United States to redouble efforts to achieve concrete outcomes that will facilitate doing business across the Atlantic, and tangible progress in areas like conformity assessments, AI, semiconductors and critical infrastructure.”
Beyrer continued, “Looking forward, we hope that the TTC will remain a high-level platform for dialogue and cooperation, in a revamped format that would streamline work, and allow for a more formal and structured engagement with stakeholders.”
The council was founded in June 2021 and serves as the foremost platform for transatlantic cooperation on trade and technology.
The meetings are traditionally co-chaired by EVPs Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. Previous editions were held in Pittsburgh, Paris, Washington DC, Lulea and Washington DC again.
Preliminary activities and side-meetings are foreseen on 4 April, with the formal conference taking place in the morning of 5 April.
