EU extends tariff suspension in U.S. steel dispute until end-March

BRUSSELS, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Tuesday extended the suspension of its rebalancing tariffs on products from the United States in the context of the steel and aluminium dispute until March 31, 2025.

Initially implemented during the Trump Presidency, the EU rebalancing tariffs were a response to the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The extension comes in response to the U.S. extending its own suspension of its tariffs for historical trade volumes reflected in the Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) system.

The extension should save EU steel and aluminium exporters approximately 1.5 billion euros (1.64 billion U.S. dollars) in tariffs annually.

"The extension provides us with the necessary space to continue pursuing the full and permanent removal of 232 tariffs on EU exports, as well as working on addressing global overcapacity and decarbonization of steel and aluminium industries," Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission and European commissioner for trade, said.

The U.S. and the EU have been at odds on steel and aluminium exports since 2018, when the U.S. introduced tariffs on 6.4 billion euros worth of European steel and aluminium exports.

In retaliation, the EU introduced its rebalancing tariffs on U.S. exports to the EU of a value of 2.8 billion euros.

In 2022, the EU decided to suspend its rebalancing tariffs until Dec. 31, 2023. The U.S. replaced its Section 232 tariffs with a tariff-based system quota based on historical trade volume, with above-quota imports still subjected to tariffs. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollar)