The United States and the European Union have agreed on a plan to curb excess production of steel and aluminum.
Under the agreement, the United States will "adjust the tariffs on steel and aluminum to allow duty-free trade at a sustainable historic level and the EU will suspend its retaliatory tariffs," the U.S. Department of Commerce said in a press release.
"President Biden made clear on day one that rebuilding relationships with our allies and partners, and working with the world’s democracies to address our shared challenges would be a top priority," the news release said. "Today’s announcement that the United States and the European Union have reached arrangements to address global steel and aluminum excess capacity, and the serious threat those market distortions pose to workers, producers and the climate, is another example of the President fulfilling his promise."
The Biden administration said it looks forward to working with other trading partners to address the "common global challenge" of excess steel and aluminum production.
“Lifting Trump era tariffs on EU steel & aluminum imports could lead to similar deals with Japan & the UK, @SecRaimondo said today at #NextSTEPConference. Excess Chinese steel capacity was the common “enemy” of US trading partners,” The Peterson Institute for International Economics tweeted.
Under the agreement, the United States and EU will monitor the steel and aluminum production of the other partner.
"Steel and aluminum manufacturing is one of the highest carbon emission sources globally," a joint statement by the two parties said. "Excess capacity generates unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, deflates prices of high emissions products and hinders the development and scaling up of competitive solutions for lower emissions production."
The United States and the EU "are resolved to negotiate, in accordance with their respective institutional frameworks, future arrangements for trade in these sectors that take account of both issues," the statement said.
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