US, EU end Trump-era tariff war over steel and aluminum
(VOVWORLD) - The United States and European Union have agreed to end a festering dispute over US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, removing an irritant in transatlantic relations and averting a spike in EU retaliatory tariffs, US officials said on Saturday.
 Steam rolls off a slab of steel as it rolls down the line at the Novolipetsk Steel PAO steel mill in Farrell, Pennsylvania, US, March 9, 2018. (REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk/File Photo) |
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that the deal will maintain US "Section 232" tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminum, while allowing "limited volumes" of EU-produced metals into the United States duty free.
US officials did not specify the volume of duty-free steel to be allowed into the United States under a tariff-rate quota system agreed upon with the EU. The deal grants an additional two years of duty-free access above the quota for EU steel products that won Commerce Department exclusions in the past year, US officials said.
Europe exported around 5 million tons of steel annually to the United States prior to Trump's imposition of the tariffs on national security grounds.