On Thursday, 20 July, the Council of the EU adopted the negotiating mandate that the European Commission had proposed for the future Critical Minerals Agreement with the United States (see EUROPE 13201/28). The EU will thus be able to negotiate the agreement with Washington over the coming months. Once it comes into force, it will allow European companies to have access to certain subsidies under the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The Council of the EU was, incidentally, keen to support the language, in the negotiating directives, on the barriers to trade between the two parties. “The Agreement should aim to prevent distortive and protectionist practices in critical minerals supply and value chains”, it adds in the lines of the mandate.
See the negotiating directives adopted by the EU Council: https://aeur.eu/f/86q
Arrangement on steel and aluminium
On the same day, European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis met with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Brussels. This meeting is part of the monthly meetings between these two political figures to try to find middle ground on the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium.
As on previous occasions, there was no breakthrough in the discussions between the two representatives. They remain “committed” to working hard so as to reach an agreement quickly—in any case, before the deadline, which falls at the end of October. Otherwise, the tariffs on steel and aluminium will reportedly come back into force, according to the provisional agreement reached in October 2021.
As for the Critical Minerals Agreement, it was also the subject of discussions between Mr Dombrovskis and Mrs Tai, who hope to see “rapid progress”. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)