US, EU plan new steel tariffs aimed at China, others

Reuters | September 7, 2023

Steel production. (Stock Image)

The United States and the European Union are working on an agreement for new tariffs aimed at excess steel production from China and other countries, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.


The measures would primarily target imports from China that benefit from non-market practices, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.


The scope of the measures, covering other countries that could be targeted and the level of the tariffs, are still being discussed, the report said.

The agreement would be part of the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum that the EU and the Biden administration have been negotiating since 2021, the report said.

“The EU and the US are fully committed to achieving an ambitious outcome for the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium (GSA) negotiations by October 2023,” a Commission spokesperson said, adding that any agreement would be in compliance with international obligations, such as WTO rules.

The office of the United States Trade Representative declined to comment on the report.

In 2018, US President Donald Trump imposed duties of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum imports, so as to shield US producers, sparking a major trade dispute with the EU.

In 2021, the two agreed to end the dispute and co-operate on the global arrangement instead.

The deal sought to let “limited volumes” of EU-produced metals enter the United States free of duty, while keeping the disputed tariffs.

(By Kanjyik Ghosh, Baranjot Kaur and Jyoti Narayan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)