The US and the European Union signed an agreement on a package of measures to reduce duties that will expand access to US and EU export markets by hundreds of millions of dollars, Voice of America reports.
This duty cut is the first one agreed by the US and the EU in more than two decades.
According to the text of the statement, the EU will abolish duties on imports of live and frozen lobsters from the United States. In 2017, more than $ 111 million worth of lobsters were exported to the European Union from the United States.
The EU will retroactively cancel these tariffs on a most-favored-nation basis starting August 1, 2020. These duties will be canceled for five years, and the European Commission will immediately begin procedures to ensure that such changes are permanent.
The United States will cut its duties by 50% on certain products imported from the EU, with an average annual value of $ 160 million, including certain processed foods, certain types of crystal glassware, surface treatments, rocket fuel, cigarette lighters.