The EU will lift sanctions against the United States once a contentious US tax law is fully repealed, Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said Wednesday after the US Senate approved a tax reform scheme.
"It goes without saying that the moment WTO-compliant legislation becomes law, the EU will immediately repeal the countermeasures," Lamy said.
The bill approved by the Senate late Tuesday aims to bring the United States into compliance with a World Trade Organisation ruling against the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) law and to end hefty EU trade sanctions.
The bill still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives and then signed into law.
"I very much hope that the House will soon follow so that an FSC repeal bill is rapidly adopted and signed into law by President (George W.) Bush," Lamy said in a statement.
The EU slapped multi-million-dollar trade sanctions on the United States at the start of March over tax breaks given to US exporters under the FSC law, which have been deemed illegal by the WTO.
The sanctions took the form of import duties starting at five percent, rising by one percentage point per month, on goods ranging from American meat to nuclear reactor parts.
If continued until the end of the year, the duties would amount to over 300 million dollars.
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