The US and the European Union have reached arrangements to address global steel and aluminum excess capacity mainly centered in China, and the serious threat those market distortions pose to workers, producers and the climate, easing the trade dispute between the US and EU that started with the US Section 232 tariffs in 2018, as announced by the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office.
According to the US-EU cooperation, the US will replace the Section 232 tariffs on EU steel and aluminum products with a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to meet the demand of downstream users. In addition, the EU will suspend additional duties imposed on US products. The US and EU will negotiate future arrangements regarding carbon intensity of the steel and aluminum industries. Both sides will expand their coordination involving trade remedies and customs matters, and will meet regularly to consult and develop additional actions to address non-market excess capacity.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Commerce has announced that the US and the UK are consulting on issues related to steel and aluminum, with a focus on the impacts of overcapacity on the global steel and aluminum markets. The parties are each other’s biggest investors, with trade in goods and services between the US and the UK worth over $250 billion in 2020.