Democratic Rep. William Delahunt, said the EU was getting too worked up over what he called “a nominal fee
EU warns on proposed US travel fees
By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer Desmond Butler, Associated Press Writer 39 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The European Union is strongly criticizing a congressional proposal to charge a $10 fee to some visitors to the United States and suggesting it may carry a price for U.S. travelers.
If it passes, the EU says, some U.S. travelers to Europe could face retaliation.
The fee now under consideration in Congress would finance a new U.S. program to promote travel, a burden that the EU believes Americans should bear.
“Only in `Alice in Wonderland’ could a penalty be seen as promoting the activity on which it is imposed,” the European Commission’s Ambassador to Washington, John Bruton, said in a statement Friday.
One of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Rep. William Delahunt, said the EU was getting too worked up over what he called “a nominal fee.”