European Commission President Says Trans-Atlantic Coordination Needed on 5G, DSTs
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU and the U.S. should work together to set rules on carbon pricing, 5G, 6G, artificial intelligence, intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer so that others don't make the rules, and they have to live with them. At the Council on Foreign Relations webinar Nov. 20, von der Leyen said managing 5G isn't just about security of hardware or software, “it is also about our values and our democracies.” She said the Trans-Atlantic Partnership should address “the illiberal use of these technologies by China and others.”
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But von der Leyen said the U.S. should be more collaborative in imposing sanctions on companies that have consequences for European firms. She said she hopes the U.S. will lift sanctions on Iran as part of rejoining the Iran nuclear agreement, but said that generally, there should be dialogue before sanctions are announced. “There might be situations where sanctions are necessary from the view of the United States but before you go there, let’s talk together and let’s negotiate and let’s differentiate and let’s find other solutions if other solutions are better,” she said.
She only briefly touched on the tariffs that both the EU and the U.S. have levied on each other during the Trump era, saying that while the two cannot re-start the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks, “there is room to address some of our outstanding issues” on aircraft, steel and aluminum.
She expressed optimism that the U.S. and the EU could work effectively together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. “Not by chance did the first COVID vaccine breakthrough come through a partnership between a European biotechnology company and an American producer,” she said, referring to what's generally called the Pfizer vaccine. A German startup, BioNTech, developed the vaccine, but asked Pfizer to run the large-scale clinical trial to prove its efficacy, and to manage the manufacturing.
She also briefly touched on the digital services tax controversy by saying the U.S. and the EU need to coordinate their efforts in thinking about taxation and “setting the rules for big tech platforms. In these days they make huge profits -- that is OK -- as long as they contribute to the common good.”