Negotiations Not Finished on Steel and Alumimum, Critical Minerals
After a meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Joe Biden, the two sides publicly acknowledged they wouldn't meet their Oct. 31 deadline to complete a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum, which is meant to keep out non-market overcapacity from the two markets, as well as privilege trade in green metals between them.
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The two issued a statement Oct. 20 that said, "Throughout these two years, we have made substantial progress to identify the sources of non-market excess capacity. We have also achieved a better understanding of the tools to address the emissions intensity of the steel and aluminum industries. We look forward to continuing to make progress on these important objectives in the next two months."
The U.S. imposes tariff-rate quotas on EU metals that go through the end of 2022.
The American Iron and Steel Institute responded to the joint statement by saying: "We are disappointed that to date the EU has not been prepared to agree to U.S. proposals to establish new trade measures that can effectively address these two key issues, which are critical to the future of both the U.S. and EU steel industries.
“We recognize that these discussions are challenging and we thank the Biden administration for continuing to press for an agreement that ensures the long-term viability of the American steel industry. We will continue to advocate for an agreement that provides for meaningful and enforceable measures to restrict steel imports from all countries that contribute to non-market excess capacity and that also provides for tariffs on imports of higher carbon emissions intensity steel products.”
The EU-U.S. statement also addressed negotiations underway to allow critical minerals mined, processed or recycled in the EU to qualify for electric vehicle tax credits. "We have made progress toward a targeted critical minerals agreement for the purpose of expanding access to sustainable, secure, and diversified high-standard critical mineral and battery supply chains and enabling those minerals extracted or processed in the European Union to count toward requirements for clean vehicles in the Section 30D clean vehicle tax credit of the Inflation Reduction Act. We look forward to continuing to make progress and consulting with our respective stakeholders on these negotiations in the coming weeks," it said.