Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminium

In June 2018, the US Trump administration introduced tariffs on
European steel and aluminium exports, starting a long-time
dispute between the two trade partners.

On 31 October 2021, the European Union and the United States
agreed on temporary measures to settle their dispute over US
Section 232 ‘national security’ tariffs on EU steel and aluminium
products. In addition to opening tariff rate quotas for
historical EU export volumes, the joint EU-US statement mandates
negotiations on a “global steel and aluminium arrangements to
restore market-oriented conditions and address carbon intensity”,
with a deadline of 31 October 2023.

As this deadline approaches, negotiators from Brussels and
Washington are scrambling to get a deal. At the same time the
discussions have been overlapping with the broader goals of
supporting the green transition and need to be considered against
the backdrop of the geopolitical rivalry between the USA and
China. 

In this episode of The Sound of Economics, Giuseppe Porcaro
invites Kimberly Clausing and David Kleimann to disentangle the
ongoing negotiations and explore the legal, diplomatic and
economic consequences of these negotiations through a
transatlantic perspective.

Relevant publication:
Kleimann, D. (2023) ‘Section 232 reloaded: the false promise of
the transatlantic ‘climate club’ for steel and aluminium’,
Working Paper 11/2023, Bruegel

This research output received funding from Pool Fund on
International Energy (PIE), within the European Climate
Foundation.