US will extend suspension of EU steel tariffs

Red-hot steel plates pass through a press at the Tata steel plant in Ijmuiden, Netherlands April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File photo

WASHINGTON  -US President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is extending a suspension of Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs against the European Union (EU) for two years as negotiations continue.

With the United States and the EU still far from resolving a years-long dispute over their trade in metals, Biden said he was extending a pause he put in place two years ago until Dec 31, 2025.

“I have determined that specified volumes of eligible steel articles imports from the EU will no longer threaten to impair the national security,” Biden said in a statement explaining his decision.

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump slapped high tariffs on steel and aluminum coming from many countries, in a move aimed largely at protecting US producers from cheaper Chinese imports.

READ: EU says US tariffs are ‘distorting’ global trade flows

But the wide-ranging rules also swept up EU exports in the process, triggering retaliatory sanctions from the European trading bloc and close US ally.

After taking office in 2021, Biden kept the tariffs in place but granted a suspension for EU exporters, which had been due to expire at the end of 2023.

The widely expected extension comes just over two weeks after the EU confirmed it was suspending its own retaliatory tariffs citing “intensive engagement” with the United States.

The pause gives the two sides space to “continue negotiations on a forward-looking, high-standard arrangement,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.

The temporary reprieve also provides “predictability and stability to steel and aluminum workers and their families on both sides of the Atlantic,” she added.