10/30/21, 4:30 PM Biden administration, EU reach agreement to ease Trump tariffs on aluminum and steel - CNNPolitics

Biden administration, EU reach agreement to ease

Trump tariffs on aluminum and steel
By Donald Judd
Updated 5:01 PM ET, Sat October 30, 2021

LIVE TV

A worker leaves U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Steel Works on March 10, 2018 in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

(CNN) — The Biden administration reached an agreement with the European Union on Saturday to ease Trump-era
sanctions on aluminum and steel, officials announced, another step in deescalating tensions with European allies
as Biden is in Rome for the G20 summit.

"The President has said that one of the key goals of his presidency is to demonstrate that democracies can deliver
results for their people, especially working people, and solve the challenges of the 21st century, and two of the
greatest of those challenges is the threat of climate change and the economic threat posed by unfair competition
by China," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Saturday. "Today's deal with the EU delivers on that
promise by making headway on both fronts."

In 2018, Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum to shore up the struggling
industries, drawing stiff rebuke from US manufacturers of products made using steel and aluminum, which
maintained that the tariffs would cost jobs in their operations and increase consumer prices. On Saturday's call,
Sullivan called the tariffs "one of the largest bilateral irritants in the US-EU relationship."

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo applauded Saturday's agreement as well, while acknowledging it wouldn't
fully revoke tariffs on aluminum and steel in place.

"We've reached an agreement with the EU which maintains

the 232 tariffs but allows limited volumes of EU steel and
aluminum to enter the US territory," Raimondo told reporters.
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10/30/21, 4:30 PM Biden administration, EU reach agreement to ease Trump tariffs on aluminum and steel - CNNPolitics
"We've also agreed to work together with the EU to use trade
tools to fight global excess capacity of steel and aluminum to
address carbon intensity, which is a huge milestone in our
fight against climate change."

Saturday's agreement was the results of "arduous" talks in

Rome, Raimondo said, and still aims to block China from
flooding markets with excess steel, while easing pressures on
imports from Europe.

"For far too long, China was routing its cheap steel into the US
Related Article: Pressure is growing on via Europe and other markets, which droveL Idown VE TV
prices and
Biden to lift Trump's tariffs as supply chain made it essentially impossible for America steel and aluminum
industry to compete," Raimondo said. "And of course, in so
problems worsen
doing, hurting the industry, hurting our workers — so today's
agreement enables us to allow limited volumes of steel to
enter the US tariff-free while still protecting America's steel
industry by ensuring that all steel entering the US via Europe is
produced entirely in Europe."

A senior administration official dismissed the suggestion that easing the tariffs on aluminum and steel might cost
Biden politically. "This deal is just the first deal that actually gets something in exchange for US steel companies
and its workers," the official said Saturday, adding that clean standards for steel will provide an advantage to
American manufacturers. "Right now, our steel companies are the cleanest in the world, and they don't get any
credit for that. And this deal will turn that sort of low carbon intensity across all modes of production into a source
of competitive advantage."

Per Raimondo, today's agreement also means the EU will drop retaliatory tariffs against US brands like Harley-
Davidson as well as the Kentucky bourbon industry, set to increase in December.

"There's 1.7 million Americans supported by the distilled spirits industry, 5,600 manufacturing workers at Harley-
Davidson, and all of their jobs are safer today because of this deal," she boasted. "This deal creates a framework
through which the US and EU agree to take carbon intensity into account in future negotiations, it's the first of its
kind deal. And it means that the US and EU, you know, both produce steel and aluminum that is significantly
cleaner, i.e. less carbon intensive than the steel produced in China."

American manufacturers were quick to celebrate the news Saturday, with Harley-Davidson calling the agreement
"an important course correction in U.S.-EU trade relations," and thanked the administration for its efforts.

"Today's news is a big win for Harley-Davidson and our customers, employees and dealers in Europe, said CEO
Jochen Zeitz in a statement. "We are excited that this brings an end to a conflict that was not of our making, and in
which Harley-Davidson had no place."

Whiskey distillers said they were eager to serve their European customers after Saturday's announcement.

"With the removal of these EU tariffs, we are energized and ready to ramp up our American Whiskey promotions in
the EU to re-introduce America's native spirits to EU consumers and resume a great American export success
story," the Distilled Spirits Council, which represents American whiskey distillers, told CNN in a statement Saturday.
"The end of this long tariff nightmare is in sight for U.S. distillers, who have struggled with the weight of the tariffs
and the pandemic."

"Today's announcement delivers on President Biden's vision to turn the page on past disputes and begin a new
chapter of enhanced transatlantic relations," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters. "In addition to
the EU, eliminating the retaliatory tariffs against the US," the two parties "have also agreed to suspend the WTO
disputes against each other related to the 232 actions."

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10/30/21, 4:30 PM Biden administration, EU reach agreement to ease Trump tariffs on aluminum and steel - CNNPolitics

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10/30/21, 4:30 PM Biden administration, EU reach agreement to ease Trump tariffs on aluminum and steel - CNNPolitics
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