According to Bloomberg News, talks are underway between the Biden Administration and the European Union on revoking U.S. tariffs on metals and European retaliatory tariffs to them on Harley Davidson motorcycles and Levi jeans. The metals tariffs were the first imposed by President Donald Trump. Trump in March 2018 imposed a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports, worldwide. Currently, South Korea, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil have gotten permanent exemptions. The tariffs on Canada and Mexico were lifted with the signing of the U.S.A.-Canada-Mexico Treaty Agreement in 2019.
Even the Biden Administration, in the persons of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondi and Trade Representative Katherine Tai, admits that these metals tariffs saved employment and stabilized the steel industry. “With respect to tariffs, there is a place for tariffs. The [Section] 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum have in fact helped save American jobs in the steel and aluminum industries,” Raimondi said. These tariffs, being indiscriminate and not directed as punitive measures simply against one country, China, were the closest Trump came to the “Hamiltonian” use of protective tariffs which he claimed to be basing his policy on. Steel capacity utilization in the United States rose from 72% to 79% under their impact, until early 2020.
