The European Union and the U.S. ended a 10-year trade dispute today under which companies from 11 European states were banned from bidding on certain types of U.S. government contracts, primarily smaller telecom contracts. The end to the disagreement was a result of the EU eliminating preferences for its local telecom manufacturers on some government contracts. This "liberalization" meant that the U.S. also lifted retaliatory sanctions. The dispute dates back to 1993 when the U.S. imposed sanctions against various EU states because the EU's Government Procurement Directive allowed EU member states to give a 3 percent discount to EU companies in some sectors.
To read more about the end of these trade sanctions:
- take a look at this article from TelecomDirect News