France's foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called for US President-elect Joe Biden and officials in the EU to suspend the ongoing Airbus-Boeing dispute in order to find common ground.
Jean-Yves Le Drian speaking at a conference for L'Ecole Polytechnique in 2016. Credit: Ecole polytechnique / Flickr Licence:CC BY-SA
He described the dispute as "poisonous" in an interview with French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, saying the tariffs hurt everyone, including digital services, the aerospace and wine sectors.
Read more: Airbus calls for settlement as US slaps more tariffs on aerospace products
“It may take time, but in the meantime, we can always order a moratorium,” he added.
He concluded by hoping the two sides could find a way to end the dispute.
The dispute has been ongoing in one form or another since 2004 and has escalated under the Trump administration, resulting in both sides placing tariffs on each other.
The UK was in talks to suspend their tariffs against the US ahead of the country officially leaving the EU on December 31.
Read more: UK and US close to deal to remove tariffs on goods
In December the US moved to increase tariffs on the German and French Aerospace sectors as part of the dispute, but the EU bloc has withheld direct retaliation for now.
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