According to Brock’s trade executor, resolving the EU’s Trump-era dispute with the United States over steel and aluminum tariffs may not be sufficient to remove all barriers to protecting industry.

Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Executive Vice President of Trade Policy, said the “ideal solution” was a mutual suspension of tariffs, as both sides agreed in this year’s Boeing-Airbus dispute. Stated. See “Other possible solutions”.

“We understand that the United States is willing to protect the steel industry, but there are certainly ways to do it in a less disruptive way for EU producers,” Dombrovskis interviewed the Financial Times. I mentioned in.

May EU Shelved plans Raise tariffs on a range of U.S. products with a gesture aimed at resolving a conflict with Washington dating back to 2018, when Donald Trump imposed heavy tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe and other economies...

The measures imposed by the then President of the United States were controversial on the basis of national security reasons taken from Article 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This is justification from such a close strategic ally ranked in Europe.

The EU has retaliated with its own tariffs. However, the arrival of Joe Biden at the White House this year prompted new efforts to improve the Atlantic slave trade relationship. Both reached in June Big progress In individual 17-year spats resolutions on aircraft subsidies.

Eliminating Article 232 tariffs would be a political pain for the U.S. president, as it is popular in the politically strong steel industry and in steelworks such as Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, which are fiercely contested in the next election. Probably.

Donbroski will visit Washington this fall to meet on a variety of trade topics, including US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

He said negotiations with the United States over tariffs in Section 232 were on a “constructive trajectory.” The ideal solution is to “completely withdraw” the measures in Section 232 and instead impose nothing else. But he said the EU is “ready to see” [at] Another solution, understand the fact that the United States is also interested in protecting the steel industry. “

They need to reduce confusion with EU producers and respect past trade volumes, he said. “It’s true that the steel sector is highly protected in the US and EU,” he said, including the use of anti-dumping and subsidy measures.

Dombrovskis did not reveal what such an alternative solution would look like. However, one possibility could be some licensing or monitoring arrangement that allows EU exporters to control access to the US market.

The EU has already excluded it, but the United States can also propose some form of export quota. Alternatively, you could choose to convert Article 232 tariffs into “safeguards” designed to deal with sudden import floods, but they are in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization. It will be difficult.

Source: Eminetra