On January 19, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed to negotiate the cancellation of the import tariffs ordered by former US President Trump on British steel and aluminum, because the agreement between the United States and the European Union on tariffs has been implemented, causing great pressure on the British steel and aluminum industries, and the British Department of International Trade said that it needs to quickly reach a resolution to cancel these tariffs in a timely manner.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Britain's International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Tevelyan held video talks and issued a joint statement on Jan. 19, saying the two countries' "democratic alliance" was reinforced to address the so-called "continuing shared global overcapacity." Challenge of global excess capacity), the UK and the US will quickly reach an agreement to activate the steel and aluminium industries in both countries by resolving issues including tariffs imposed by the US on British metal imports and Retaliatory tariffs on the US by the UK.
Screenshot of the statement on the UK government website
The United States and Britain also said in the joint statement that they discussed what they called "China's overproduction problem" and claimed that they would "hold accountable countries that implement harmful market-distorting policies."
No specific date or timeline was given in the joint statement.
U.S. tariffs punish primarily its longtime allies
According to the BBC, Britain's steel lobby welcomed the news as existing U.S. tariffs have reduced Britain's exports by almost 50 percent.
U.S. brewers say they hope negotiations with Britain will get Britain to stop imposing excess tariffs on American-made spirits. Chris Swanger, president of the American Distillery Association, called the Anglo-American statement "a very positive development."
According to Reuters, a spokesman for the UK's Department for International Trade said: "We will continue to take 'rebalancing measures' on US products until an agreement is reached, and we will not hesitate to take any necessary action to defend our vital steel and aluminium industries." ”
Kevin Dempsey, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, warned that the United States would not buy much steel as part of negotiations with Britain and Japan. He said in a statement that the U.S. government must ensure that new agreements of all kinds do not result in large (steel) imports, as this could lead to a decline in domestic capacity utilization to below "healthy" levels.
In 2018, Trump announced a 25% tariff on foreign steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum, citing national security. The move infuriated longtime U.S. allies such as Britain and Europe.
The Associated Press reported that critics argue that the Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum don't solve the real problems facing U.S. producers. Since the U.S. has ruled out most of the steel from China, Trump's tariff policies punish primarily U.S. allies.
In response, the United Kingdom and the European Union imposed retaliatory tariffs on the United States, including a 25% tariff on whiskey, motorcycles, jeans, tobacco products and other products imported from the United States. According to the American Distillery Association, annual exports of U.S. whisky to the UK have fallen by more than half since 2018.
Britain urgently needs a deal with the United States
The Associated Press reported that although the current US president Biden criticized Trump's alienation of allies, Biden's move to remove steel tariffs since the beginning of the year has been slow because many U.S. states have welcomed them.
Last October, after six months of negotiations, the United States and the European Union reached a quota agreement on trade in steel and aluminum, which went into effect on January 1 this year.
Reuters reported that as part of the U.S.-EU agreement, the U.S. will allow 4 million tons of "melted and powdered" steel from the Eu to enter the U.S. each year, in exchange for lower retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, including whisky.
Reuters pointed out that the Uk hopes to use the EU as an example to negotiate tax-free access to the US steel and aluminum markets.
The BBC reported that neither the Uk nor the United States wants the trade dispute to continue to worsen, so the statement released on the 19th pointed the finger at a third party.
Since the agreement between the United States and the European Union on tariffs has been implemented, which has caused great pressure on the British steel and aluminum industries, the United Kingdom urgently needs to reach an agreement with the United States as soon as possible.
According to the British "Guardian" report, if the British government's negotiations with the United States fail to achieve a corresponding breakthrough, British steel and aluminum exports to the United States will continue to be subject to tariffs. With competitors from the EU taking a 25% price advantage in the huge US market, the UK steel industry could see a trade plunge.
The UK Department for International Trade said in a statement on the 19th: "Our focus now is on reaching a speedy resolution quickly to remove these tariffs in a timely manner to pave the way for our (UK-US) booming trade relationship." ”
When the news of the Anglo-American talks came out, the party scandal continued to ferment, and British Prime Minister Johnson's position as prime minister was shaky.
Johnson's violation of the epidemic prevention order to attend a party in May 2020 was exposed by the British media
Reuters said the crisis would develop into a formal challenge to John's leadership, paralyze the British government's decision-making for weeks and limit British ministers' mandate to negotiate with the United States.
According to the BBC, after the ministerial meeting, the talks between British and American officials will begin on the 20th, and the British side hopes that the negotiations will go well and will take weeks rather than months to end. If the deal does not reach within weeks, the British government will face more pressure to step up retaliatory measures against the United States.
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