The United States and the European Union (EU) reached an agreement on Saturday to lift additional customs duties on steel and aluminum exported from Europe to the US market as part of an effort to end a dispute that has poisoned bilateral trade. their relationships.
The US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, announced the “historic” agreement, during an interview she gave via video conference from Rome, where she had meetings within the G20. He said the agreement retains some duties, but “will allow limited quantities of steel and aluminum to be imported duty-free from Europe to the US”.
The minister also added that additional retaliatory measures announced by the EU, which were due to take effect on 1 December, would not be implemented. The measures targeted products such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles or Kentucky bourbon.
European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dobrovskis said on Twitter that “we have agreed with the United States to end our steel and aluminum trade dispute and launch a partnership to reach a global agreement on sustainable steel and aluminum”.
The head of the Italian government, Mario Draghi – the host of the G20 – welcomed the decision, “which confirms the strengthening of the already close transatlantic relations and the progressive overcoming of protectionism in recent years.”
Mr Draghi hopes that “this agreement will be the first step towards a greater opening of (trade) exchanges between the EU and the US, in order to stimulate the development of our economies”, according to the press service of the Italian services. Prime Minister.
In the midst of a trade war, the Trump administration had imposed in June 2018 additional tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported by the United States from around the world, from Turkey to China, passing through Canada. Mexico and the European Union, arguing that it was a measure necessary to protect the country’s “national security”.
In less than three weeks, Europeans retaliated by imposing additional tariffs on motorcycles, gin, corn, rice, orange juice and hundreds of other US-made items. Tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles increased from 6% to 31%; the result was an increase in the retail price of $ 2,200 each.
Referring to American industries, Ms. Raimondo stressed that their products were subject to additional punitive duties of up to “50%”, and “no company could survive” from this. The agreement secures the jobs of “1.7 million Americans in the spirits industry and 5,600 workers in Harley-Davidson.”
In June, when they announced the settlement of their dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, Washington and Brussels set a deadline of December 1 to find a solution to the steel, as otherwise they would face further increases in customs duties. Europeans.
The announcement of this ceasefire on the first day of the G20 summit in Rome, however, does not specify the amount of imported steel and imported aluminum that will be imported duty-free.
“We expect this agreement to ease the supply chain and reduce cost increases,” she said, as economies face obstacles in manufacturing and distributing key industrial products.
The American Chamber of Commerce was relieved that even during the days of the Trump administration it was stigmatizing the impact of the trade war. After all, it was the American importers who were the first to be affected by the additional duties, since by definition the purpose was to discourage imports from the countries targeted.
The two sides want the environmental impact, ie carbon dioxide emissions, to be taken into account in the negotiations for their future agreement on steel and aluminum. This will mean that the US and the EU will produce “steel and aluminum in a cleaner way than China,” Gina Raimondo assured.
For the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the deal “should now lead the EU to unite with the US” and the two “attack China’s contribution to global overproduction and demand measurable changes,” as the chairman of the collective put it. of this American industry, Scott Paul.
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