WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: President Biden and European Union Reach Historic Carbon-Based Arrangement on Steel and Aluminum Trade

Today, President Biden reached a historic arrangement with the European Union to negotiate the world's first carbon-based sectoral arrangement on steel and aluminum trade – a major win in the fight to address the climate crisis while protecting our workers and industry, and enabling them to compete in the global marketplace. As a result of the arrangement, the Europe Union will remove its tariffs on a wide range of products, protecting American jobs, reducing costs for middle-class families, and maintaining U.S. export competitiveness.

Read the joint United States and the European Union statement here.

See below for what they are saying:

Tom Conway, President, United Steelworkers (USW) International: "This new arrangement, which will maintain but modify Section 232 measures on steel and aluminum from the EU, will create a framework that will ensure U.S. domestic industries remain competitive and able to meet our security and infrastructure needs. It will also provide a much-needed opportunity to address the non-market predatory practices of China and other countries that have distorted global markets, while also spurring a dialogue over climate concerns stemming from countries whose industries are far more carbon intensive than those in the United States and the EU… This arrangement shows President Biden's strong commitment to the Steelworkers and American workers." [Link, 10/30/21]

United States Steel Corporation: We appreciate and applaud President Biden and his Administration for standing strong in support of American-made steel and American workers. We especially want to recognize the leadership of Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Tai, including for ensuring the EU arrangement requires that only steel melted and poured in the EU qualifies for the tariff rate quota. Global overcapacity must be confronted and significantly reduced, and until that occurs, our Nation should maintain the Section 232. As the first American-headquartered steel company to publicly set a 2050 net zero carbon goal, U. S. Steel also welcomes the announcement of the global arrangement discussion focused on both overcapacity and reducing the carbon intensity of steelmaking. Federal engagement and support is needed to decarbonize steelmaking. [Link, 10/31/21]

Clean Air Taskforce: "NEW: The US-EU deal for a trade agreement that factors in the carbon content of steel & aluminum establishes a vital negotiating framework to address carbon emissions from the industrial sector, + an encouraging spirit of diplomacy as we head into #COP26." [Link, 10/31/21]

Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cleveland-Cliffs: "Today's announcement of an alternative Section 232 measure with the EU is evidence that President Biden and his Administration understand the critical role of the steel Section 232 program in providing a level playing field for American companies and workers. This tariff rate quota arrangement will guard against a harmful surge of steel imports from the EU. The agreement recognizes that the United States has the most environmentally friendly steel industry in the world…I wish to thank Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai, for negotiating a deal that respects the importance of maintaining strong Section 232 measures to the benefit of U.S. national and economic security." [Link, 10/30/21]

Colin O'Mara, CEO, National Wildlife Foundation: "This is a big win for American workers. By putting tariffs on dirtier and inferior quality foreign-made steel and aluminum, we will both bolster American-made steel and aluminum production and reduce emissions around the globe. It's the ultimate win-win." [Link, 10/30/21]

Kevin Dempsey, President and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute: "We appreciate the Biden administration's continued recognition that the American steel industry is critical to our national and economic security, as well as its commitment to addressing the global steel overcapacity crisis and to combatting unfair trade practices in the global steel sector. Proper implementation and enforcement of the TRQ will be crucial to ensuring that the new measures are effective in meeting these critical objectives." [Link, 10/31/21]

Todd Tucker, Roosevelt Institute: "This is excellent news. Steel and aluminum are among the biggest carbon emitting industries, and also support good union jobs. US-EU cooperation to green these industries is a win for the climate and a win for workers." [Link, 10/31/21]

Josh Freed, Senior Vice President, Climate and Energy Program at Third Way: "The US-EU trade deal on steel and aluminum is a major win for American workers, American industry, and the climate. It rightly sets a standard established by domestic steel and aluminum manufacturers, which already lead the world in clean production…" [Link, 10/31/21]

Associated Press: "National security adviser Jake Sullivan, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the agreement Saturday. They said that the Article 232 tariffs won't be removed entirely but that some quantity of European steel and aluminum will be allowed to enter the U.S. without tariffs under the deal… We were able to reach an agreement whereby the EU will drop their retaliatory tariffs (on American goods)," Raimondo said. The agreement would ensure "that all steel entering the U.S. via Europe is produced entirely in Europe," Raimondo added." [Link, 10/30/21]

Washington Post: "The Biden administration has struck a deal with European Union officials to lift some tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, resolving at this year's Group of 20 summit a bitter trade stand-off that began under president Donald Trump three years ago. The deal announced Saturday allows "limited volumes" of steel and aluminum products from the EU to enter the United States tariff-free, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. In return, the European Union will drop their retaliatory tariffs on American goods. The EU had been poised on Dec. 1 to boost tariffs to 50 percent on various U.S. products, including Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon from Kentucky. This agreement is significant in that it will reduce costs for American manufacturers and consumers," Raimondo said." [Link, 10/30/21]

Bloomberg: "The U.S. and the European Union have concluded a trade truce on steel and aluminum that will allow the allies to remove tariffs on more than $10 billion of their exports each year. Negotiators reached an agreement Saturday as they worked to balance market demands and climate change, said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Rome… The agreement, ultimately, to negotiate a carbon-based arrangement on steel and aluminum trade addresses both Chinese over production and carbon intensity in the steel and aluminum sector," Sullivan told reporters Saturday. Negotiators were working hard to reach a deal before Dec. 1, when the European tariffs are set to double. The deal marks a significant moment in repairing the U.S. trade relationship with Europe after Donald Trump's disruptive presidency." [Link, 10/30/21]

CNN: "The Biden administration reached an agreement with the European Union on Saturday to ease Trump-era sanctions on aluminum and steel, officials announced, another step in deescalating tensions with European allies as Biden is in Rome for the G20 summit… Per Raimondo, today's agreement also means the EU will drop retaliatory tariffs against US brands like Harley-Davidson as well as the Kentucky bourbon industry, set to increase in December… "Today's announcement delivers on President Biden's vision to turn the page on past disputes and begin a new chapter of enhanced transatlantic relations," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai told reporters. "In addition to the EU, eliminating the retaliatory tariffs against the US," the two parties "have also agreed to suspend the WTO disputes against each other related to the 232 actions." [Link, 10/30/21]

New York Times: "The deal, which comes as U.S. and E.U. allies meet in Rome, will keep some trade protections in place in a nod to metalworking unions that supported President Biden. The Biden administration announced on Saturday that it had reached a deal to roll back tariffs on European steel and aluminum, an agreement that officials said would lower costs on goods like cars and washing machines, reduce carbon emissions, and help get supply chains moving again. The deal, which comes as President Biden and other world leaders meet at the Group of 20 summit in Rome, is aimed at easing trans-Atlantic trade tensions that had worsened under former President Donald J. Trump, whose administration initially imposed the tariffs… It leaves some protections in place for the American steel and aluminum industry, by transforming the current 25 percent tariff on European steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum into a so-called tariff rate quota, an arrangement in which higher levels of imports are met with higher duties. [Link, 10/30/21]

NPR: "The Biden administration has announced the broad outlines of a deal to end an expensive economic impasse that had led to growing tension between the United States and the European Union. The United States will keep steel and aluminum tariffs on European nations, but will allow a certain amount of steel and aluminum produced in the EU to enter U.S. markets tariff-free… Now, the change in policy — announced during the G-20 economic summit in Rome — appears to be an attempt to strike a balance between keeping protections for U.S. producers nominally in place, but addressing the cost increases the tariffs have led to, in a moment of rising inflation that has lasted longer than Biden officials had first anticipated. [Link, 10/30/21]

Politico: "The Biden administration will ease tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union under an agreement reached Saturday, resolving a Trump-era tension that for years has tarnished trade relations between the longtime allies… The new arrangement required months of intense negotiations among top trade officials and has been viewed on both sides of the Atlantic as a compromise that the trading partners made for the sake of a fresh start following four years of discord under former President Donald Trump… The trading partners also agreed to develop a long-term plan that both confronts China over its excess steel production and applies pressure on exporters of carbon-intensive steel. U.S. officials described it as a first-of-its kind deal." [Link, 10/30/21]