EU to Eliminate Tariffs on Lobster, US to Reduce Tariffs by 50% on Crystal, Cigarette Lighters, Etc.

The U.S. is reducing by 50% tariffs on certain prepared meals, certain crystal glassware, cigarette lighters and lighter parts, surface preparations and propellant powders, in exchange for the European Union ending tariffs on live and frozen lobster imports. Canada had been taking market share from Maine lobster exports since Canada and the EU signed a trade deal, and Canadian lobsters could enter duty free. The products from the EU have an “average annual trade value of $160 million,” while lobster exports to the EU topped $111 million in 2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a news release Aug. 21. All the tariff reductions are effective as of Aug. 1, 2020.

The tariff reductions “are the first U.S.-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades,” USTR said. The EU lobster tariffs “will be eliminated for a period of five years and the European Commission will promptly initiate procedures aimed at making the tariff changes permanent,” the release said. “We intend for this package of tariff reductions to mark just the beginning of a process that will lead to additional agreements that create more free, fair, and reciprocal transatlantic trade,” USTR Robert Lighthizer and EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said in a joint statement.