Brussels, 30 January 2024
Today, the European Union and the United States held the fifth meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Washington, D.C. The meeting allowed ministers to take stock of the progress of the TTC’s work and to provide political steer on key priorities for the next TTC Ministerial meeting, which will take place in Belgium in spring.
The TTC is the main forum for close cooperation on transatlantic trade and technology issues. It was co-chaired by European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, joined by European Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Participants showed a strong, shared desire to continue to increase bilateral trade and investment, co-operate on economic security and emerging technologies and to advance joint interests in the digital environment. In the margins of this TTC meeting, both sides agreed to continue to explore ways to facilitate trade in goods and technologies that are vital for the green transition, including by strengthening the cooperation on conformity assessment. The EU and the US have also committed to make tangible progress on digital trade tools to reduce the red tape for companies across the Atlantic and to strengthen our approaches to investment screening, export controls, outbound investment, and dual-use innovation.
Following their commitment at the last TTC Ministerial, the EU and the US welcomed the International Guiding Principles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the voluntary Code of Conduct for AI developers adopted in the G7 and agreed to continue cooperating on international AI governance. Both parties also welcomed the industry roadmap on 6G which sets out guiding principles and next steps to develop this critical technology. They also took stock of progress in supporting secure connectivity around the globe, notably for 5G networks and undersea cables.
The EU and the US are also intensifying their coordination on the availability of critical raw materials crucial for semiconductor production, having activated the joint TTC early warning mechanism for semiconductor supply chain disruptions, following China’s announced controls on gallium and germanium. They continued to exchange information on public support for the investments taking place under the respective EU and US Chips Acts. A roundtable on the semiconductor supply chain took place in the margins of the TTC, focusing on developments and potential cooperation in the legacy semiconductor supply chains. Finally, the EU and the US discussed a report mapping EU and US approaches to digital identity, currently open for comments.
At a stakeholder meeting on Crafting the Transatlantic Green Marketplace, which takes place on 31 January, stakeholders will present their views and proposals on how to make transatlantic supply chains stronger, more sustainable and more resilient. A series of workshops will take place to boost the transatlantic green marketplace and to promote good quality jobs for the green transition, as well as workshops on the solar supply chain, permanent magnets and investment screening.
Both sides agreed that the next TTC Ministerial meeting will take place in spring in Belgium, hosted by the Belgian Presidency of the Council.
Background
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden launched the EU-US TTC at the EU-US Summit in Brussels in June 2021. The TTC serves as a forum for the EU and the US to discuss and coordinate on key trade and technology issues, and to deepen transatlantic cooperation on issues of joint interest.
The inaugural meeting of the TTC took place in Pittsburgh on 29 September 2021. Following this meeting, 10 working groups were set up covering issues such as technology standards, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, export controls and global trade challenges. This was followed by a second summit in Paris on 16 May 2022, a third summit in College Park, Maryland, in December 2022, and a fourth in Luleå, Sweden in May 2023.
The EU and the US remain key geopolitical and trading partners. EU-US bilateral trade has reached historic levels, with over €1.5 trillion in 2022, including over €100 billion of digital trade.
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Quotes
In today’s fierce competition for technologies, we need to de-risk to ensure our economic security. Building partnerships with like-minded countries will help us achieve this objective. The Trade and Technology Council is a key forum to advance our work on economic security in emerging technologies, including on secure digital infrastructure, advanced semiconductors, quantum and trustworthy AI.
As two of the largest economies in the world, the EU and US must strengthen cooperation on economic security, resilience of supply chains and ensuring that trade can support the green transition. We are already making it easier to supply each other with green goods and technologies and we will now focus on creating a true green transatlantic marketplace. The TTC has already bolstered transatlantic coordination in key areas, notably in our trade-related sanctions against Russia. We now want to build on this success.
In the current geopolitical context, technology has become vital for our economic security. I am pleased to see the progress made in EU-US cooperation on topics of common interest, such as trustworthy artificial intelligence, 6G, standardisation and security of supply.