Joint EU-U.S. Statement on Steel & Aluminium

EU and the U.S. agreed to start discussing a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium after more than three years of trade disputes On the 31st of October 2021, more than three years after the US Trump administration’s introduction of tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports and the EU’s rebalancing measures, the European Commission President von der Leyen and United States President Biden agreed to begin discussions on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum. As per the EU-U.S. Joint Statement, both sides convened to expand EU/U.S. coordination involving both trade remedies and customs matters. To enhance their cooperation and facilitate negotiations on a global sustainable steel and aluminum arrangements, the EU and the United States agreed to form a technical working group. Moreover, the EU and the United States have agreed to suspend by 5 November 2021, pursuant to Dispute Settlement Understanding (‘DSU’) Article 12.12, the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) disputes they have initiated against each other regarding the U.S. Section 232 measures (DS548) and the EU’s additional duties (DS559). Background

In June 2018 the US Trump administration introduced tariffs on €6.4 billion of European steel and aluminum exports, complemented by further tariffs in January 2020. As a response, in June 2018 the EU introduced rebalancing measures on US exports to the EU in a value of €2.8 billion. The remaining rebalancing measures, concerning exports valued up to €3.6 billion, were scheduled to enter into force on 1 June 2021. These were, however, suspended by the EU till 1 December 2021 to solve the dispute by negotiation means. You can read the text of the Join Statement here.

Source: European Commission