Legal and historic basis of trade war between the European community and United States

Abstract

The main goal of the article was to explain the nature of the trade conflict between the United States of America and the European Union through both legal and historical lenses. It has been achieved through an analysis of crucial legal instruments of both parties along with their influence on legal systems within the scope of international trade policies. In particular, in regards to granting executive power over tariffs and the international trade policy as described by, respectively, the Constitution of the United States and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and acted upon through acts of congress and executive orders of the president in the U.S. and regulations of Council and Commission in the EU. Key trade disputes between the parties, brought before the Dispute Settlement Body of the Worlds Trade Organization have been examined, leading to a conclusion, that trade war between the analyzed parties can be described through biaxial dynamic. Firstly, through discretional interventions and secondly, through engaging in legal disputes within WTO. The escalation of conflict by both sides has been proven to bear detrimental effect to both of the involved economies, which have already started to slow down.