Jun 10, 2021
US Section 232 tariffs may end by December 1, 2021
2021-08-18
Trade tensions between Europe and the US may end soon, as next week the respective leaders will meet to end a series of disputes and also to call for progress on a new study into the origins of COVID-19, according to a seven-page draft agreement seen by Reuters news agency.
The draft agreement pledges to end a long-standing dispute over subsidies to aircraft manufacturers before July 11 and to abolish the steel and aluminum tariffs that were imposed three years ago by December 1.
Despite pressure from the US steel industry groups to keep the Section 232 tariffs, US President Joe Biden will "commit to work towards lifting before December 1, 2021 all additional/punitive tariffs on both sides linked to our steel and aluminium dispute," reads the draft. However, steel industry sources told Reuters the language may be aimed at retaliatory tariffs on both sides such as those on whiskey and motorbikes, not necessarily the underlying 25 percent US tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Meanwhile, the progress in talks between Europe and the US over trade disputes might explain why the European Commission is taking its time to announce a decision concerning its safeguard measures on steel, which are going to expire at the end of this month and were imposed in response to the US Section 232 tariffs.
At the Brussels summit, US President Joe Biden will meet President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and will also pledge to promote international cooperation to fight global warming.
Source: Steel Orbis
