US, EU End Tariff War From Donald Trump's Presidency Over Steel, Aluminum
NDTV
US President Joe Biden sought to mend fences with European allies following Donald Trump's presidency, during which Trump had imposed hefty steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union.
The United States and the European Union have agreed to end a festering dispute over US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, removing an irritant in transatlantic relations and averting a spike in EU retaliatory tariffs, US officials said on Saturday.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that the deal will maintain US "Section 232" tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent aluminum, while allowing "limited volumes" of EU-produced metals into the United States duty free.
It also ends one of the biggest areas of friction between the allies and allows them to focus on negotiating new global trade agreements to address global excess steel and aluminum capacity mainly centered in China and reduce the industries' carbon emissions.
US officials did not specify the volume of duty-free steel to be allowed into the United States under a tariff-rate quota system agreed upon with the EU.
