The European Commission says it is expecting to hear from the United States in the coming days, how the European Union can avoid U.S. import tariffs on steel and aluminium, the Commission’s President, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Tuesday.
The EU is seeking to be exempted from planned U.S. import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium but says Washington has not made clear how the exemption process works.
The European Union would make the point before EU leaders meet at a summit on March 22-23 that the EU was a long-standing and trusted security partner of the United States. In addition, the EU would stress that it is not a threat to national security and that the Pentagon only needed 3 percent of U.S. annual steel production to serve its needs.
“We will keep making this point in the run-up to the European Council next week,”
“We are expecting more clarity on the American side in the coming days and will continue to work with our partners to push for an exemption,” Juncker told the European Parliament.
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