On October 31st, U.S. President Biden and European Commission President Von der Lein jointly announced a reconciliation plan around “Trump 232 steel and aluminum tariffs” at the G20 summit in Rome-the United States will start from January 1, 2022 Exempt the “232 tariffs” of EU steel and aluminum products. In response, the EU will suspend retaliatory tariff measures against US products. Both parties will also suspend related WTO lawsuits.
The United States and Europe’s reconciliation of the steel and aluminum trade dispute will have an impact far beyond the steel and aluminum industry. It marks the clear strategic direction of the United States and Europe in trade: to contain China as the main purpose, jointly promote the establishment of a “carbon club”-a carbon emission It is a standard global steel trade agreement. This marks the beginning of the United States and Europe to jointly lead the formulation of international trade rules in the era of climate change.
The road map currently announced by the United States and Europe is the first step to cancel each other’s tariffs. The second step is to negotiate for two years to reach the world’s first trade “arrangement” for steel and aluminum products with carbon content as the standard. The United States and Europe claim that the “arrangement” will solve two problems: 1. Climate change; 2. Disruption of international trade caused by overcapacity. This is the first time that the United States and Europe have “creatively” tied the two reasons for overcapacity and carbon emissions together. The US Department of Commerce stated in the “US-Europe Steel and Aluminum Joint Statement” that the excess capacity of steel and aluminum has led to unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.
Post time: Nov-11-2021