b'july 27 - AugusT23, 2020european trade 7(AVERTEDcontinued from page 6) week, The European Commission lost a Nospecialprivileges,nospeciallandmark case with Apple. The GeneralUnited States to Europe by CarriereconomictreatmentandnoexportCourt of the European Union concurred ofsensitivetechnologies,forthewith Apple (on a deal with two AppleTEUsSpecialAdministrativeRegion.TheIrish subsidiaries) that the generous taxCARRIER Jan-May 2020 Jan-May 2019President also signed the Hong Kongdeal that it agreed to with Ireland shouldHAPAG LLOYD A G (HLCU) 207,067 214,013AutonomyAct,intolaw,enablingstand rather than an EU assertion that theMSC-MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY S A (MSCU) 173,315 203,457U.S. authorities to hold the individu- tax deal was a government subsidy. InMAERSK LINE (MAEU) 130,811 145,232alsandinstitutionsinvolvedintheeffect allowing Ireland to remain a techOCEAN NETWORK EXPRESS PTE LTD (ONEY) 78,010 75,537HongKongcrackdownresponsible.industry tax haven for Apple and others.CMA-CGM (CMDU) 71,140 68,282Recently, the Administration is report- In another ruling, the data sharing agree- ORIENT OVERSEAS CONTAINER LINE LTD (OOLU) 64,000 51,226EVERGREEN LINE (EGLV) 25,162 27,618edly looking to include members ofment between U.S. and EU called U.S.- INDEPENDENT CONTAINER LINE LTD (IILU) 21,425 27,912Chinas Communist Party in a travelEU Privacy Shield was struck down byHAMBURG SUD (SUDU) 19,509 20,763ban related to Hong Kong. the European Court of Justice. The dealYANG MING MARINE TRANSPORT CORP (YMLU) 18,841 16,381WhilemanyEuropeannationswas successfully challenged on the basisOTHERS 57,425 82,280share the Administrations view thatthat U.S. national security laws did notTotal 866,703 932,701Chinahasactedasabadplayer,protectEUcitizensfromgovernmentSource: Descartes-Datamynethey are understandably now far moreintrusion. In time, reshaping the digital reticentaboutthrowingtheirlotinrelations between the EU and the U.S.problematical is the future post-Brexitorderly departurebut that can only with the U.S.may be much bigger than the disputetradeagreementbetweentheU.Khappen if it is what both sides want. And thats the rub:At this momentbetween the dueling aircraft makers. and EU, which is due to be finalizedMerkels point being that the ball whatstherealchoicebetweentheAnd with Brexit will come a newthis year but still has many stumblingis really in Britains courtwhat does U.S. and China for Europe? yet to be determined trade agreementblocks. The idea of an orderly splitthe UK want from the deal? InGermany,ChancellorAngelawiththeU.S.andtheUnitedKing- is favored by most parties [the TrumpAnd it is perhaps the same with Merkelhaslongcultivatedpoliticaldom. Potentially, this trade agreementAdministration being the outlier]. FortheU.S.relationshipwithEurope. and economic ties with Beijingandcould open the doors for even closerexample,Merkelinawidelypubli- WhatdoestheU.S.wantfromthe not coincidentally, China is now Ger- trade between the already closest U.S.cized recent interview said, It would,deal,aquestionthatislikelyto manys biggest trade partner, overtak- partner in Europe. But that agreementof course be in Britains and all the EUremainunanswereduntilafterthe ing the U.S. for that spot in 2017. doesntexistinavoidfarmoremember states interest to achieve anNovember election.But the crackdown in Hong Kong ignitedabacklashinGermanythat put Merkel and her Christian Demo-craticUnionpartyonthedefensive over their coziness with Beijing. Chancellor Angela MerkelAndMerkelsnotaloneinher plight. To various degrees, all 27 mem-bers of the EU were driving on Chinas new Silk Road to the promise of pros-perityor at least they were until the pothole of the pandemic and crackdown in Hong Kong put a detour sign up.Butsimplyrethinkingtherela-tionship with China isnt necessarily goingtorepairtheEUsfriendship with Washington.W hAtW ill be then eWn orMAl in2021?WiththeU.S.Presidentialelec-tionscomingupinNovember,the downwardtrajectoryoftherelation-shipbetweenEuropeandtheU.S. couldsignificantlyimprove.Former Vice President Joe Biden clearly favors a stable integrated EU, Paris Climate AgreementandtheNATOpacts role in Europe and beyond. A Biden Administration would also support the fundamentalpoliticalandeconomic global institutions like the WTO and WHO. The many common denomina-tors would certainly provide a starting point for establishing a basis for trade negotiations that thus far have eluded the Trump Administration. But even should President Trump losetheelection,therearemany issues between Europe and the U.S. that will be difficult to hammer out in the environment of a highly nation-alizedandstillCovid-19plagued global economy. Already we are seeing issues over how the digital economy will work. Last'