Maroto urges the EC to ask Biden to suspend the Helms-Burton Law

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, has sent a letter to the Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, in which she urges Brussels to initiate talks with the new US Administration, chaired by Joe Biden, to suspend the Helms-Burton law, which harms Spanish trade and investment in Cuba, especially the tourism sector, as well as the suspension of tariffs on Spanish products applied by the United States and that harm the export of oil, wine or table olives , among others.

“Restoring mutual trust is undoubtedly one of the key objectives of our future trade policy. We need to identify the main areas for immediate action and build on mutual needs and shared common goals in our respective external trade and economic policies. Solve our Disputes would send a message of confidence to the private sector, which asks that a negotiated solution be sought between the two parties,” Maroto has indicated in her letter.

The head of Industry focuses on four priorities of the new trade relations between the European Union and the United States: resolving trade disputes, improving cooperation in areas of mutual interest for the future, promoting the much-needed reform of the multilateral trading system and coordinating responses to avoid trade distortions while laying the foundations for “resilient, fair and open” international trade in the future.

In this way, Maroto refers in her letter to the need to intensify contacts to reach a “negotiated, balanced and mutually beneficial solution” in the civil aviation dispute (Airbus-Boeing), the tariffs on Spanish table olives, the tax on certain digital services and safeguard measures on steel and aluminum.

“Working on the suspension of the so-called Helms-Burton Law is one of Spain’s main priorities and for this we request to reinforce the ongoing diplomatic contacts of the European Commission with the United States to suspend the aforementioned law, which is seriously affecting our trade and investment in Cuba, especially in the field of tourism, in which Spanish companies are market leaders,” said the head of the branch in her letter to Dombrovskis.