Source: Nworeport

The U.S. and European Union have settled their diplomatic disagreement over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs, the White House declared Saturday, as President Joe Biden is in Rome attending a group of 20 summits.

The Trump Administration had placed taxes on E.U. steel and aluminum in 2018 on the allegation that the foreign products produced by American allies were a threat to U.S. national security. Europeans and other allies were insulted by Trump’s use of Article 232 to maintain the tariffs, leading many to impose counter-tariffs on U.S.-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter, and jeans, among other items.

The E.U. first targeted 2.8 billion euros of U.S. exports and said it would apply the remaining 3.6 billion euros three years later or after a positive result at the WTO. This second tranche of tariffs was put on hold earlier this year in a sign of good faith to the Biden administration.

“We have agreed to pause our steel & aluminum trade dispute and launch cooperation on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel & Aluminium,” the EU’s trade chief, Valdis

Dombrovskis, announced on Twitter Saturday.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the agreement Saturday. They announced that the Article 232 tariffs would not be eradicated. Some European steel and aluminum quantities will be permitted to enter the U.S. without tariffs under the deal.

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“We were able to reach an agreement whereby the EU will drop their

retaliatory tariffs (on American goods),” Raimondo announced. The agreement would guarantee “that all steel entering the U.S. via Europe is produced entirely in Europe,” Raimondo continued.

The easing of the tariffs is a key step in unwinding one of Trump’s legacies as Biden has attempted to reset the U.S. relationship with Europe.