(Reuters) – The United States and the European Union (EU) are working on a deal on new tariffs targeting excess steel production in China and other countries, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
This project mainly targets steel imports from China, which the EU and the United States say benefit from non-trade practices, Bloomberg said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The scope of the planned measures, which could also affect other countries and the level of customs duties, is still under discussion, adds the news agency.
The offices of the US Trade Representative and the European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
According to Bloomberg, this new project would be part of the global agreement on sustainable steel and aluminum that the EU and the administration of President Joe Biden have been negotiating since 2021.
Former US President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports in 2018, saying he wanted to protect US producers, sparking a major trade dispute with the EU.
In 2021, the EU and the United States agreed to put an end to this dispute and to cooperate with a view to a global agreement, which would allow the entry without customs duties on American soil of “limited volumes” of metals produced by the EU, while maintaining existing customs duties.
On the stock market, the European compartment of basic resources (-1.23%) shows one of the largest sectoral declines in the Stoxx 600, itself down 0.2% in the morning.
(Report Kanjyik Ghosh in Bangalore, Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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