The US and EU have reached a deal to end a long-standing dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs set by former US President Donald Trump, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced at the G20 Summit in Rome.
“Pleased to announce that US President Joe Biden and I have reached an agreement to suspend tariffs on steel and aluminum and work together on a new global agreement on steel,” the official wrote on Twitter.
According to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the new agreement will allow “a limited amount of steel and aluminum from the EU to be imported into the US duty-free,” while maintaining tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum for some imports. Officials did not specify the volume of duty-free metals to be allowed into the US under the new deal, but Reuters sources claimed that annual volumes below 3.3 million tons would be freed from tariffs.
“These were very successful consultations, we agreed on how to proceed with a common challenge, which is the global oversupply, mainly caused by China,” Raimondo stated, as cited by Reuters. The official also noted that Washington expects the new deal to help curb supply disruptions of the metals in the US.
The Trump administration imposed duties on steel and aluminum imports from the EU in 2018, citing national security issues as the reason. The EU responded with retaliatory tariff measures of their own on US products, including bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and motor boats. The new deal is expected to remove these measures.
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