US-China trade respite eases EU fears of being flooded with Chinese goods

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The easing of trade tensions between the United States and China is a step in the right direction and helps reduce European fears of being flooded with Chinese goods redirected from the U.S. market, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.

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A 90-day easing of US-China trade tensions is seen as positive, but US tariffs on Chinese goods remain high at 30 pct, still distorting trade.
The EU is wary of Chinese goods being redirected to Europe due to US tariffs; leaders have urged China to prevent this.
The EU will assess in June whether Bulgaria meets the requirements to adopt the euro, as part of its potential entry into the eurozone.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of European Union finance ministers on Tuesday (May 13), Dombrovskis noted, however, that the reduction of tariffs after weekend talks in Switzerland was for 90 days and the tariff rates that remained were still high.

"Obviously this easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and China is heading in the right direction but it is worth noting that the 30% tariffs which the U.S. would continue to apply to Chinese goods, also in this 90-day period, is still quite a high tariff level and correspondingly trade distortive," he said.

"But of course it may ease somewhat the trade diversion concerns we had," Dombrovskis told a news conference.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urged China on April 8 to ensure that goods that could no longer enter the U.S. because of prohibitively high tariffs were not redirected to the EU.

Dombrovskis also said that the European Commission will publish a report in early June on whether Bulgaria is ready to adopt the European Union's euro currency.

To join the euro zone, which now has 20 out of the EU's 27 countries, Bulgaria has to get a positive opinion that it meets the criteria from the European Commission and the European Central Bank in what is called a convergence report.