An agreement was reached this Saturday between Brussels and Washington to put an end to this measure decided by Donald Trump in June 2018. In return, the European Union will not impose the envisaged retaliatory measures.
The United States and the European Union reached an agreement on Saturday to lift additional tariffs on European imports of steel and aluminum, a dispute that has plagued trade relations between Washington and Brussels since the imposition of such tariffs. taxes by the Trump administration.
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US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced this agreement “historical” who go “maintain certain tariffs but allow limited quantities of European imports of steel and aluminum to enter the United States duty-free».
The retaliatory measures announced by the EU, scheduled to take effect on December 1 on products like Harley-Davidson motorcycles or Kentucky bourbon, will not be implemented, said Administration Minister Biden in a conference call from Rome, where a G20 meeting is being held.
European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis announced in a tweet: “we have agreed with the United States to suspend our steel and aluminum trade dispute and to launch cooperation for a global agreement on sustainable steel and aluminum».
Protectionist measures decided by Trump
The Trump administration imposed in June 2018 additional tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum from several regions of the world, including the European Union, arguing the need to protect national security .
The Europeans quickly responded by planning to tax motorcycles, jeans (including Levi’s), or tobacco, corn, rice or orange juice from the United States.
Last June, when the settlement of the dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing was announced, Washington and Brussels gave themselves until December 1 to find an agreement on steel otherwise the EU would impose an increase. of its customs tariffs.
«These industries faced retaliatory tariffs of 50%“, Recalled Ms. Raimondo, referring to products made in the USA. “No business can survive this. There are 1.7 million Americans who make a living from the spirits industry and 5,600 workers at Harley-Davidson. All these jobs are secured with this agreement».
The announcement, made on the first day of the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome, does not specify the volume of steel and aluminum imports that will be duty free.
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«We expect this deal to ease the supply chain and reduce cost increasesThe US Secretary of Commerce said again, as economies struggle with bottlenecks in the manufacture and distribution of key industrial products.
The agreement specifies that all steel imported from Europe to the United States will be fine “made entirely in Europe», Insisted the US administration.
It is also intended to be the framework for future negotiations for an agreement between the European Union and the United States on how to better take into account the carbon intensity of the manufacture of these products. “This means that the US and EU both produce steel and aluminum which are cleaner than steel produced in China.».
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