Since the relations between Brussels and Washington since the Trump administration has imposed tariffs in 2018 on European imports of steel and aluminum.
Le Monde with AFP
Even the American Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, called him “historical”. The United States and the European Union (EU) signed on Saturday 30 October an agreement to raise additional customs duties on European imports of steel and aluminum. The announcement closes a conflict that poisoned the trade relations between Washington and Brussels since the imposition of these taxes by the Trump administration in 2018.
According to M me Raimondi, the agreement will “maintain certain customs duties but allow limited quantities of European imports of steel and aluminum to enter the United States into Rights franchise “.
The retaliation measures announced by the EU, planned to enter into force at the December 1 products such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles or Kentucky Bourbon, will not be applied. Rejoices the Minister of Administration Biden in a conference call from Rome, where a meeting of the G20 stands.
The European Commissioner for Commerce Valdis Dombrovskis announced In a tweet :” We agreed with the United States to suspend our trade dispute on steel and aluminum and launching cooperation for a global agreement on sustainable steel and aluminum “.
In June 2018, the Trump administration made additional customs duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum in several parts of the world, including the European Union, arguing the need to protect national security. The Europeans had quickly replied by planning to tax motorcycles, jeans (including Levi’s), or tobacco, corn, rice or orange juice from the United States.
“No business can survive that”
Last June, at the announcement of the settlement of the conflict on the subsidies in Airbus and Boeing, Washington and Brussels had given itself until the 1 er December to find a ground of Steel Agreement Otherwise the EU would impose an increase in its tariffs.
“These industries faced 50% retaliation rates,” recalled M me Raimondo by evoking the “Made in USA” products. “No business can survive that. There are 1.7 million Americans living from the spirits industry and 5,600 workers at Harley-Davidson. All these jobs are insured with this agreement”.
The announcement, on the first day of the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome, does not specify the volume of import of steel and aluminum that will be free of customs duties.
“We expect this agreement to relieve the supply chain and reduces cost increases,” said US Secretary, while economies fight with bottlenecks in manufacturing and distribution of key industrial products. The agreement specifies that all imported steel from Europe to the United States will be well “made entirely in Europe”, insisted the US administration.
It is also intended for future negotiations for an agreement between the European Union and the United States on how to better consider the carbon intensity of the manufacture of these products. “This means that the United States and the EU are both producing steel and aluminum that are cleaner than the steel produced in China”.