U.S. revises EU steel proposal as tariff-hike deadline looms

The U.S. has submitted a new proposal to the European Union to solve a Trump-era dispute on steel tariffs, offering more-generous terms, according to people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. has submitted a new proposal to the European Union to solve a Trump-era dispute on steel tariffs, offering more-generous terms, according to people familiar with the matter.

The updated proposal involves so-called tariff-rate quotas that Bloomberg reported last month, but provides for a bigger quantity of steel to enter the U.S. before higher duties kick in, according to two of the people who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. TRQs allow countries to export specified quantities of a product to other nations at lower duty rates, but subjects shipments above a pre-determined threshold to a higher tariffs. 

The EU will analyze the latest proposals, before U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis -- who met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 trade gathering in Sorrento, Italy, on Tuesday -- meet again in Brussels next week, the people said.

Met @USTradeRep @AmbassadorTai to continue our discussions on finding a settlement on the Trump steel & aluminium tariffs #232. The work continues. We also discussed preparations for @wto ministerial #MC12. @g20org pic.twitter.com/Y4J5SnbvB9

The Trump-era tariffs “need to be lifted swiftly and permanently,” Miriam Garcia Ferrer, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said by email. “As a trusted U.S. ally, the EU cannot be deemed to pose a security threat to the U.S. Nor is it a source of global steel and aluminum excess capacity,” she said, adding that the overcapacity issue affects the EU too. 

She declined to comment on the talks but said a solution would have to respect the “traditional trade volume” before the tariffs were imposed, and be compatible with the World Trade Organization’s rules.