EU to mull settling row over US metal levies with quotas

The European Union is leaving open the option of a settlement with President Donald Trump over his controversial metal tariffs on the basis of U.S. import quotas, according to officials from the bloc.

An EU condition for such a deal would be that any U.S. limits on steel and aluminum from the 28-nation bloc be set at levels no lower than its 2017 shipments to the American market, the officials in Brussels said on condition of anonymity. EU exports to the U.S. last year of both types of metal were worth a combined 6.4 billion euros ($7.6 billion).

Without taking any decisions, EU national representatives meeting in the Belgian capital on Friday didn’t rule out the possibility of a quota-based accord in the run-up to the June 1 expiry of the bloc’s exemption from the U.S. duties, according to two of the officials, who asked not to be named because the talks were confidential. Trump, who introduced the levies in March on national-security grounds, excluded the EU initially until May 1 and this week prolonged the waiver for a “final” 30 days.

The EU’s potential willingness to tolerate quotas on its steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. highlights the political pressures within the bloc to put short-term economic interests above policy principles. Quantitative restrictions on commerce are generally disallowed under World Trade Organization rules, which, however, can be enforced only after a complaint by a member country.

To date, the EU has loudly rejected the U.S. tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum as illegal under global rules, and demanded a “permanent, unconditional” exemption. It has threatened that, without one, it will both complain to the WTO and impose tit-for-tat duties on 2.8 billion euros of imports of U.S. goods including Harley-Davidson Inc. motorcycles, Levi Strauss & Co. jeans and bourbon whiskey.

At their meetings this week in Brussels, the EU national representatives stressed their preference for a full, unconditional waiver from the levies, according to the officials. Some member-country experts also expressed reservations about going down the path of quotas, which the White House has said it’s focused on in order to “restrain imports, prevent transshipment and protect national security.”