Free Trade Agreement Portugal
On August 21, 2020, the United States and the European Union announced a trade agreement on tariff reductions on certain products of mutual interest. The agreed tariff changes entered into force for the European Union on 18 December 2020 with the publication of Regulation 2020/2131 of the European Parliament and of the Council in the Official Journal of the EU and on 22 December 2020 for the United States. Under the agreement, the European Union has eliminated tariffs on imports of certain live and frozen lobster products on a most-favoured-nation (MFN) basis with retroactive effect to 1 August 2020. EU tariffs will be abolished for a period of five years and the European Commission will initiate procedures to make tariff dismantling permanent. The United States has reduced tariffs on ready meals, certain crystal glassware, surface preparations, propellant powders, lighters and lighter parts by fifty percent. Tariff reductions in the U.S. are also most-favored-nation and apply retroactively to August 1, 2020. Describes the trade agreements in which this country is involved. Provides resources for U.S. companies to obtain information on the use of these agreements. Portugal is one of the countries currently involved in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations with the rest of the European Union and the United States. The United States and the European Union enjoy strong bilateral trade relations totalling $698.7 billion in 2015.
A free trade agreement like TTIP aims to strengthen this relationship by eliminating tariffs, adapting compatible regulations to open up trade, and promoting trade in the services sector. In a recent interview with EURACTIV`s media partner Lusa, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Europe should be a stand-alone global player, warning that it would be “a terrible sign” if the EU blocked a recent investment deal with China to coordinate with Washington. The Portuguese diplomat also called for “political and geopolitical results with India”, a priority partner of his country, with whom he wants to accelerate negotiations on the trade agreement that the EU began in 2007 but paralyzed since 2013. “Portugal believes that trade and trade agreements are the best way to improve relations between Europe and Latin America at the moment,” Santos Silva told reporters. Portugal will try to conclude a free trade agreement between the EU and the South American trading bloc Mercosur during its six-month EU presidency and expand Europe`s relations with other potential trading partners, the country`s foreign minister said on Thursday (7 January). The election of President Alberto Fernandez in Argentina in August 2019 also cast doubt on the commitment of Mercosur itself, the world`s fourth-largest trading bloc, to the deal with the EU, with Fernandez hinting that it would renegotiate parts of the deal. The impasse reflects the complexity of the EU`s trade agreements, which go beyond market access and trade tariffs and are intended to encompass European environmental and foreign policy objectives. The distrust of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro`s government in Europe is delaying the ratification of a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, the EU ambassador in Brasilia said. Earlier in the day, the EU and Mercosur signed a trade agreement that will create one of the largest free trade areas in the world with a population of 780 million and “consolidate the close political and economic ties between the EU and Mercosur countries,” the EU document said. Beyond the Mercosur agreement, Santos Silva said that “we are about to conclude the agreement with Mexico” and that “we are in a very interesting phase in terms of modernizing our agreement with Chile.” Portugal is located on the border with southwestern Europe on the Coast of the North Atlantic. Portugal is classified as a high-income country with a population of 10.28 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$240.6 billion. The country has developed a strong services market economy, accounting for about 75% of its GDP.
As in other European countries, much of Portuguese trade takes place in Europe and surrounding countries. However, the United States is Portugal`s sixth largest export destination. .
