US, EU Reach Deal to Settle Rift Over Steel, Aluminium Tariffs

In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump imposed a 10 percent trade penalty on aluminium and a 25 percent penalty on steel imported from the EU, citing a "threat to national security".
Sputnik
The US and the EU have agreed to settle a row over steel and aluminium tariffs, US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, said on Saturday.
According to Raimondo, the deal will maintain US Section 232 steel and aluminium tariffs imposed under Trump, and allow a limited amount of EU products to enter the US.
EU countries will be able to export duty-free some 3.3 million tonnes of steel annually to the US under a tariff-rate quota system.
She added that the previously granted steel product exclusions will be extended for two years.
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The agreement comes a little more than a month before the European tariffs were set to double. According to TIME magazine, the deal now has to be formally accepted by both sides.
The dispute began in 2018, when former US President Trump imposed duties on steel and aluminium from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere, citing risks to national security and saying that his goal was to protect US industries from "unfair" foreign competition.
The EU responded in kind, hitting products including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi Strauss jeans, and bourbon whiskey.
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