EU, U.S. raise cooperation to counter Ukraine war disruption

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpPARIS Reuters – The European Union and the United States agreed on Monday to cooperate more closely to counter disrupted supply of industrial commodities and food caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine and to combat disinformation from Moscow.p

pSenior EU and U.S. officials convened in Paris for the second Trade and Technology Council, a forum initially seen as a transatlantic counterweight to China, but now with a clear focus also on Russia.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pIn a joint statement, the two allies said they would coordinate further to mitigate the negative impacts of what Russia has described as a “special military operation” in Ukraine and on rebuilding Ukraines economy.p

pThe European Union and the United States will work to promote more diversified trade in agricultural commodities and inputs and to reduce overreliance on certain trading partners so as to increase resilience of global food production. p

pThe two sides also agreed to collaborate to reduce dependencies on unreliable sources of strategic supplies and mitigate jointly the negative effects of sudden supply ruptures of critical materials from Russia.p

pThe transatlantic trade blocs said they will cooperate to diversity supply chains for rare earth magnets and in solar power production and seek to overcome shortages of semiconductors with greater transparency and an early warning system, while agreeing also to avoid a chip sector subsidy race. p

pThe European Union and the United States also condemned the Russian governments undermining of freedom of expression, saying it had “repeatedly used the veil of disinformation” to obscure war crimes committed by Russian forces.p

p“We also believe that it is important to combat Russian disinformation in third countries, including with regard to food security, including with our G7 partners,” the joint statement said.p

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pp Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Mathieu Rosemanp

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