In recent days, the European Union and the United States have taken a small step back, temporarily easing their fight over tariffs.
On Aug. 21, the United States and the European Union announced a $200 million trade deal that would eliminate tariffs on American lobsters and other products, easing trade tensions.
Washington has threatened to increase tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU products, including Scotch, French wine and cheese, after the World Trade Organization ruled in favor of eu subsidies to aircraft maker Airbus.
However, recent us concessions have been seen as a positive sign of willingness to work with the EU to resolve differences.
Eu sources said the move was seen as a first step towards reducing disputes between the EU and the US.
However, talks between the EU and Britain on a deal for the future trade relationship made little headway, with the two sides' chief negotiators blaming each other for the impasse.
Now the transition period to leave the European Union, which ends at the end of the year, is drawing closer.
Europe and America meet each other halfway
The European Union has agreed to suspend the 8 per cent tariff on LOBsters imported from the US for the next five years and move towards the complete abolition of the measures under an agreement reached between the US and Europe.
The United States would cut tariffs in half on European products such as prepack meat, crystal glass and lighters, and would go back to Aug. 1.
The agreement still needs to be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament and is expected to take several weeks to come into force.
In a joint statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said they intend to use the tariff cuts as a beginning to lead to more agreements to create free, fair and mutually beneficial trans-pacific trade.
Ustr also announced that the $7.5 billion list of EU imports that had previously been subject to tariffs would be revised, removing some products from the U.K. and Greece and replacing them with equivalent German and French products.
Specifically, the United States will impose tariffs on jam from Germany and France, while cheese and crackers from Britain and Greece will be removed from the U.S. government's list of rewards and penalties.
More than 100 EU products other than large civil aircraft, including food, alcohol and clothing, are on the list and will continue to be subject to 25 percent US tariffs.
"To Germany and France!"
According to some analysts, the substitution of German and French products for British and Greek products by the US has a strong political symbolism, which shows who is America's good partner in the EU and who is its bad partner.
, of the China institute of contemporary international relations in the United States institute associate researcher Sun Lipeng pointed out that on the tariff question, the President of the United States has always pursued the trump is economic populism, to the European Union to just one part of a series of tariff policy, the reason about elections approaching, the desire in the field of economy and stabilize its ruling foundation concept, namely, to protect the interests of the American middle class blue-collar, so will often cause trouble in the customs.
From this point of view, it is no surprise that trade disputes between the US and Europe are frequent.
The impasse between Britain and Europe remains unsolved
In contrast, negotiations on a trade agreement between Britain and Europe are faltering.
On August 21st British officials said Britain was willing to discuss anything, but the EU's insistence that Britain must accept its position on state subsidies and fisheries meant that the EU was responsible for slowing the process.
Brussels says The UK can continue to trade freely with the lucrative single market of 450m people only if it accepts "level playing field" rules to ensure fair competition.
The relationship is governed by a transitional arrangement in which new partnerships on trade, transport, energy and security are negotiated, while The UK remains committed to EU rules.
An agreement on the future trade relationship between Britain and Europe, if agreed, will come into force in 2021;
Failure to do so could lead to a breakdown in trade and financial ties between the world's fifth largest economy and its largest trading bloc, which could exacerbate the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Dong Yifan, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the biggest differences between Britain and Europe at the moment are over government subsidy rules and fishing quotas.
The EU bristles at Britain's position that it wants access to the single market but does not want to be bound by some EU rules.
Britain argues that the EU needlessly adds to the difficulty of negotiations by demanding that Britain meet its standards, especially in areas such as government subsidies and fishing policy, before discussing other issues.
In addition to trade, the biggest stumbling block, the two sides are also at loggerheads over immigration, security, dispute settlement mechanisms and other areas.
Time is also running out, with the EU saying an agreement must be reached by the October 15-16 summit of the bloc's 27 leaders so that it can be adopted at the summit and ratified by national parliaments this year.
"[The latest round of talks], like the July round, the British negotiators have shown no willingness to make progress on issues of vital importance to the EU."
"Although we have shown flexibility in recent months," the EU representative said.
However, there are optimistic analyses that a deal could still be reached on time, given the havoc wreaking on the global economy by the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire of both the UK and the EU to avoid a deeper recession.
The next round of UK-EU talks is scheduled to take place in London in the second week of September.