The recent trade agreement between the United States and the European Union is "being praised by both sides" and by businesses, the workforce, and environmentalists, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a statement.
"This simply reinforces that the world’s first carbon-based sectoral arrangement on steel and aluminum trade is a win for American workers, businesses, families, and the environment by protecting good-paying union jobs, lowering prices for consumers, maintaining our competitiveness, and reducing emissions," the department said.
The agreement is also winning praise on social media.
“President Biden and his European Union counterparts made important progress in de-escalating a trade war over tariffs on European steel and aluminum,” small-business owner and blogger Jeffrey Setaro of Connecticut tweeted.
Elected leaders in the U.S. are also praising the deal.
“We are starting to see the tangible benefits of the most pro-worker administration in a generation," U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), said. "The Biden Administration knows that if you want to stand up for American workers and companies in the face of China’s anticompetitive practices, it helps to work with friends and allies, and to listen to American workers. This agreement was negotiated with labor at the table, as all trade policy should. Paired with my bipartisan Build America Buy America Act, this agreement is an important first step in addressing Chinese steel overcapacity and dumping that has cost Ohio jobs.”
The agreement will help U.S. companies, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in the release.
"It will ensure U.S. domestic industries remain competitive while committing the United States and European Union to work together to address the root of the problem: Chinese state subsidies and global overcapacity in the steel and aluminum sectors," Shuler said.
