Politics

US, EU to seek closer trade, tech ties and tighten sanctions on Russia

Washington, May 16 (EFE).- The United States will seek to deepen commercial and technological ties with the European Union (EU) and tighten sanctions and export controls in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A President Joe Biden administration official told reporters in a background briefing that Russia would be the focus of the second ministerial meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Paris on Monday.

“You are going to see us talk about supply chains and Russia and ways to address it collectively,” the source said.

“You are going to see Russia as a focus across a number of areas of the TTC’s work. We are going to talk about the supply chain impacts from Russia and look for ways collectively to address them, probably particularly in global food issues,” the official said.

The official acknowledged that they were “quite concerned about a looming food security crisis in the back part of this year because of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war.”

“We will continue the close collaboration you have seen over the past three months to isolate Russia from multilateral trading institutions and the global economy.”

He said the US and the EU would be developing joint and coordinated strategies to address the adverse impact on the transatlantic economies of non-market trade distortive policies and practices.

He said the two sides were likely to “announce a dedicated task force to promote the use of trusted ICTS suppliers through financing for deployments in third countries.”

They might also announce a new cooperation framework to explore issues to inform information integrity in crises, particularly on digital platforms focussed on ongoing issues related to the misinformation that “Russia is spreading related to its war on Ukraine.”

The EU and the US will announce plans for a guide to cybersecurity best practices for small and medium-sized companies whose business is impacted disproportionately by cyber threats.

“And we will be launching a new climate and clean tech-focused dialogue on lifecycle greenhouse gas assessments, methodologies on green public procurement and on electric vehicles.”

The first meeting of the TTC took place in the US city of Pittsburgh last September with the idea of ​​consolidating a common front against China.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Trade Representative Katherine Tai will attend the second meeting. EFE

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