Spain’s Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, travelled to Brussels together with the State Secretary for Trade, Xiana Méndez, and the Secretary-General for Industry and SMEs, Raúl Blanco, to defend Spanish interests before the European institutions. During her stay in the Belgian capital, Reyes Maroto held a meeting with the European Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, and with the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneur-ship and SMEs, Elzbieta Bien-kowska. Among other issues, the Spanish minister addressed the imposition of tariffs by the United States on the import of certain Spanish products, such as black olives. “Spain will support the European Union’s decision to appeal to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to prevent US customs tariffs on this product, which directly affects the Spanish economy,” explained Reyes Maroto. According to the Spanish authorities, the decision by the US Administration was taken arbitrarily, following an incorrect assessment and without allowing sufficient time for its opposition, thus creating a situation of defencelessness. The minister also expressed her concern over the automotive sector, after the US President, Donald Trump, recently insinuated that he may impose tariffs of around 20 per cent on vehicles imported from the 28 EU Member States. The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism also used this meeting to address the protective measures that the European Union has adopted on 23 products in the steel sector that directly and indirectly affect Spanish industry and trade, and which will remain in force for at least 200 days. “The visit by a European Commission delegation to the USA, headed up by President Juncker, to open up a space for dialogue with the US Administration to recover normality in trade relations is good news”, stressed Reyes Maroto. At the meeting held in the Belgian capital, such other issues were discussed as the future of alliances with China, the influence of Brexit, the support to maintain the Appellate Body of the WTO, the defence of its impartiality and the need for a rotation system to take all countries into account, and the intention to schedule and speed up negotiations with MERCOSUR, among others. In terms of industry, Reyes Maroto explained that the 2030 industrial policy strategy to which the present government is committed must have four clear goals: to increase the weighting of industry in the economy, to improve the market shares of EU exports in global markets, to increase industrial employment and to enhance how society perceives industry.
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