EU trade officials stand firm on S201 tariff removal, refusing compromise
Following the strong pressure put on the officials in order to remove the S201 sanctions on steel imports following the final ruling by the WTO, US authorities asked the
US steel producers to find middle grounds to avoid a threatened trade war. Consequently, the
US steel makers, who have been pushing for the continuance of the sanctions, reluctantly agreed to ending the tariffs earlier than scheduled.
However, EU trade officials don't seem to act compromising on the levies. They state that no compromise could be considerable as the
US steel tariffs are found illegal and have to be removed with immediate effect.
The proposed compromise involved the suggestion that the US ended tariffs six months earlier than the originally scheduled March 2005 expiry date, and also a rate cut of the tariffs by about one third.
Furthermore, the
US steel consumers including auto part makers are not also very eager for a compromise.
Meanwhile Japanese government earlier this week announced its intention to raise tariffs on imports of steel, benzene, textiles, leather and some other products from the US in case the safeguards on steel are not lifted. A tariff raise of 5-30% is mentioned, depending on product. The proposal in this respect will be submitted to the related councils by end November.