US and EU agree to settle dispute over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs: Sources

by David Lauder and Andrea Schala

WASHINGTON/ROME, Oct 30 (Reuters) – The United States and the European Union are expected to announce a deal later this week to resolve their long-running trade dispute over US tariffs on steel and aluminum. for, to ease transatlantic trade, he said. Knowledgeable about the process.

Two sources said the deal, the details of which are still being finalised, would allow EU countries to export about 3.3 million tonnes of steel a year to the United States under a system of tariff quotas.

A source familiar with the matter said, “An agreement has been reached on Steel and will be announced soon.”

Sources said that there will be a higher volume of steel imports now subject to tariffs, but additional duty-free status will be given to some steel products, which had availed exemptions during the previous year.

Including product-specific exclusions, the total volume of EU steelmakers without tariffs will be around 4.3 million tonnes next year, one of the sources said. Europe exported 5 million tonnes of steel to the United States before former President Donald Trump added tariffs in 2018.

The deal will be sealed before a late November deadline to raise Europe’s retaliatory tariffs on American products such as motorcycles and whiskey.

Technically, the agreement retains the United States’ global “Section 232” tariffs on metals, which imposed a levy of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum for national security reasons, but in practice a substantial portion of Europe’s steel exports. gives a discount.

The United States allows imports of tariffed steel from North American trading partners Mexico and Canada, with a mechanism that allows tariffs to be reimposed in the event of an unexpected “spike” in import volumes.

(Reporting by David Lauder and Andrea Schallal; Additional reporting by Jan Strupzewski; Editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)