This month's CLIP is a recent joint statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden from the US-EU Summit in Brussels on 15 June 2021, launching the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC).
The work of the TTC will be focused on the following objectives:
- Expand and deepen bilateral trade and investment
- Avoid new technical barriers to trade
- Cooperate on key policies on technology, digital issues and supply chains
- Support collaborative research
- Cooperate on the development of compatible and international standards
- Facilitate cooperation on regulatory policy and enforcement
- Promote innovation and leadership by EU and US firms
The working groups are set to consider a wide range of issues, for example artificial intelligence, data governance, global trade challenges and sustainability. Vestager has commented that the TTC will allow the two political forces to work together on common democratic values, and to "translate them into tangible action on both sides of the Atlantic".
Under the newly established TTC, the leaders intend to create a Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue that will coordinate approaches to competition policy and enforcement, and increased cooperation in the tech sector. Both the EU and US have agreed to improve data flows and work on consumer protection as part of this new project.
This newly formed alliance has been formed in the wake of the EU Digital Markets Act and is likely to strengthen proposals to control big tech. Whilst there may be diverging interests, it will be very interesting to see this cooperation works in practice to tackle global competition issues.
And finally, this is of course a reminder that the EU will continue to partner with the US on matters of common concern, with or (as in this case) without the UK...
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