b'july 27 - AugusT23, 2020NOrth AmericAs trANsPOrtAtiON & LOGistics New sPAPer 5Can a trans-Atlantic trade war be averted?SinceTrumpselectiontheAtlantictrenchhas gotten wider as the differences between Brussels andWashingtonhavegrownmorecontentious. And trade is at the heart of the matter. With rela-tions nearing a breaking point, can a U.S.-Europe trade war be avertedor is it already too late?By George Lauriat, AJOTWhiletheongoingtradebeer, gin and vodka. The EU (andjustabouteverythingfeltthemovewaspouring else)disputewithChinaissalt into the wound and felt the daily headline grabber, thecompelled to react.relationsbetweentheUnitedInearlyJuly,EUTrade StatesandEuropehaveCommissionerPhilHogan steadily deteriorated since theinreactiontotheperceived electionofPresidentTrumprebuff of negotiations with theeuropean in 2016. The reasons for theTrumpAdministrationsaid worseningrelationsbetweenin his report to the European theTrumpAdministrationParliaments trade committee, and Europe are many. At itsI want to reassure people thatt r ad e2 0heart trade is the key matter,we are ready to act decisively issuesliketheEUsubsidies(AVERTEDcontinued on to Airbus (and Boeings sup- page 6)portfromtheU.S.govern-ment) or the Administrations 232investigationsintovari-ous import commodities. The Administrationspolicyof disengagement,whetherthat be leaving international orga-nizationsliketheParisCli-mate Agreement, WHO or the threat to the Universal Postal Union,ormorerecentlythe WTO (World Trade Organiza-tion)nottomentionNATO, all have played into Europes growing mistrust of the U.S. AndEuropesownongo-ingstrugglewithBREXIT, strained relations with Russia and the trade imbroglio with Chinahaveaddedlayersto this already complex state-of-affairs. Still for three-quarters of a century, Europe and the U.S. have largely been in close accord, can it be so again?P lAneS PeAking : A irbUS vSb oeing Ande verythinge lSeInOctoberof2019,the United States won their WTO case against Airbus subsidies and was awarded the right to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of EU goods in a related case oversubsidiesforEuropean plane maker Airbus. With the WTOruling,theU.S.initi-atedtariffsof15%-25%on $7.5billionworthofEuro-peangoods.TheU.S.tar-iffs hit items such as planes, olives,toolsandwhisky, cheese,wineandporkpri-marilyattackingimports fromtheAirbusmanufac-turingcountriesofBritain, France, Germany and Spain.The EU itself has a com-plaint lodged against Boeing for U.S. subsidies to the Seat-tle-plane maker which is still being reviewed by the WTO. And without a WTO decision inhand,Brusselshasbeen hamstrunginanypotential moves against the U.S.In June, the Trump Admin-istration announced it was con-sideringnewleviesonEU trade worth $3.1 billion annu-ally - a move targeting prod-uctssuchasbakerygoods,'