EU and US exchange on Section 232 tariff agreement - concerns peanut butter, cranberries, sweetcorn, kidney beans
1 SEPTEMBER 2023On 24 August, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis on the margins of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers’ Meeting in India.
According to the readout from this meeting, Ambassador Tai and Executive Vice President Dombrovskis reviewed U.S.-EU negotiations toward a global arrangement on sustainable steel and aluminium, and agreed to remain in close contact and tasked their teams with an intensified pace of meetings on these initiatives.
However, with the communicated deadline of October approaching for the discussions of the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium (GSA), there is concern amongst EU and US affected industries as to whether the current suspension of the Section 232 dispute and tariffs will be prolonged beyond 31 December, when they are scheduled to resume should the GSA not be concluded.
FRUCOM is in contact with both EU and US stakeholders to exchange intelligence and support the prolongation of the suspension. As part of the Section 232 coalition (trans-Atlantic industries affected by the tariffs), FRUCOM will participate in a call scheduled on 6 September with Rupert Schlegelmilch, Director for The Americas, Agriculture and Food Safety in the European Commission (DG TRADE).
Contact: Lebo Mofolo, lmofolo@frucom.eu