MANILA, July 24 (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned Washington’s rationale for imposing new tariffs on European goods, saying on Friday that allegations of shortcomings in the bloc’s forced labour controls were unfounded.
“You can’t say that for the European Union,” Kallas told Reuters on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in Manila.
“If you compare our labour laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labour conditions for our employees, so it’s not really grounded,” she added.
Kallas said the EU will seek clarification from Washington, adding that the bloc had honoured commitments under a transatlantic trade agreement reached last year and viewed the new tariffs as a shock.
“We had a deal with America and we have kept to that deal, that side of the deal,” she said. “That’s why this is a negative surprise that this agreement is not kept.”
(This story has been refiled to add a dateline)
Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by David Stanway.
