On Wednesday 18 April, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström demanded a permanent and unconditional exemption for the EU from the customs duties of 25% on imports of steel and of 10% on imports of aluminium into the USA. These duties entered into force on 23 March and the EU is provisionally exempted from them until 1 May. Malmström demands permanent and unconditional exemption for the EU before other issues of transatlantic trade can be planned.
"We are arguing that the exemption should be unconditional, and that it should be permanent – because we are friends and allies and we are willing to work with the USA on certain issues of common concern notably overcapacity in China", she said at a press conference, on the sidelines of the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg.
"We have passed a very clear message (to the US administration), supported by 28 member states unanimously, that we expect to be permanently and unconditionally excluded from these measures", she insisted.
"We have said that we are always ready to discuss about trade irritants but we are under no circumstances negotiating anything under pressure and under threat. So first we need unconditional permanent exemption, and then when it is confirmed by the US president we can continue to talk about any other things they want discuss", Malmström stated, saying that she had not currently received any guarantee from the US side.
In order to settle this issue, Malmström and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross opened a dialogue process between the Commission and Trump administration, in Washington on 21 March, planning on the creation of a working group to discuss investment protection and certain trade disputes as well (see EUROPE 11986, 11988).
"We did not offer the USA anything. We will not offer them anything to obtain a permanent exemption", Malmström assured, saying that the opening of trade discussions with Washington would require "a mandate from the member states".
However, the Commission and member states are already talking in the corridors about the discussions to be planned with the US administration once a definitive exemption has been confirmed. These discussions could be on lowering customs barriers on certain products or other regulatory issues.
In response to US President Donald Trump's demands on better access to the US market for cars, Malmström has recently put forward a long list of "trade grievances" the EU has with the USA concerning US restrictions to public procurement access (see EUROPE 11990).
Negotiations for an EU-US free trade agreement (TTIP) were started in 2013 but have been at a standstill since the departure of Trump's predecessor at the White House, Barack Obama.
During the European Council on 23 March, several European leaders stated they did not want talks with the USA for a 'TTIP lite', which would include only dealing with tariff barriers (see EUROPE 11989). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)