House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) raised concerns on Wednesday that the European Union’s (EU) new insurance regulations were “unjustifiable trade barriers” that discriminate against U.S. companies.
Brady and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) raised concerns in letters to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman.
Brady and Levin warned that the EU’s insurance regulations, known as Solvency II, would have negative consequences for American companies and urged Lew and Froman to address those concerns in ongoing negotiations.
“We support your work to negotiate equivalence for the United States through the covered agreement,” Brady and Levin wrote. “The successful and expeditious conclusion of these negotiations would generally provide greater market access for U.S. insurance providers operating in Europe, and the negotiations also provide an important opportunity to end the uncertainty and potentially significant business losses faced by our insurers because of the EU’s discriminatory treatment. If, however, it is not possible to quickly remove the less favorable treatment through the covered agreement negotiations, then we urge you to consider other ways to address this unjustifiable trade barrier, including the enforcement tools that we have available to us in our trade agreements.”
The Treasury Department and USTR announced in November that they would begin negotiating an agreement between the United States and one or more foreign governments to establish rules that ensure that insurance providers can compete on a level playing field.