The United States and the European Union decided Monday (May 17) to suspend tariffs in their steel dispute and hold talks seeking to end their more than two-year trade dispute by the end of this year.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and European Union Executive Committee Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis issued a joint statement Monday announcing the start of discussions on how to address the global steel and aluminum surplus, while dealing with China’s (Communist Party of China) ) role in this issue.
In the statement, the U.S. and European representatives said, “The U.S. and EU members are allies and partners, sharing the same national security interests, like democracy and market economies. They (the U.S. and Europe) are aligned to promote high standards, address common concerns, and hold countries like China (the Chinese Communist Party) accountable for supporting distorting trade policies.”
With this decision, the EU will suspend retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in an effort to restart transatlantic relations, and the two sides will work on talks to address global overcapacity in steel and aluminum, Dombrovskis said.
Eastbrovskis said that on the basis of the suspension of tariff increases, both the U.S. and Europe hope to resolve the trade dispute by the end of the year. That would affect products ranging from U.S. steel production to Kentucky bourbon.
Trade relations between the U.S. and Europe have gradually improved since President Joe Biden took office, with both sides agreeing in March to suspend all tariffs on the Airbus and Boeing Co. subsidy trade dispute for four months. The suspension of steel tariffs released on Monday also boosted U.S.-European trade again.
“The EU presented the Biden administration with plans to restart the EU-U.S. agenda in December 2020, and we are pleased to see that approach come to fruition.” Eastbrovskis said, “The EU (steel) is not a national security threat to the U.S., but it is largely caused by third parties driving distortions caused by global overcapacity, which poses a serious threat to the market-oriented EU and the U.S.”
The U.S.-EU decision to suspend tariffs comes just ahead of Biden’s appearance at the U.S.-EU summit in mid-June.
The U.S. had imposed tariffs of 25 percent on European steel and 10 percent on aluminum in June 2018 for national security reasons.
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