Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
EU, Japanese make pitches for tariff relief
They ask for exemptions as longtime allies of U.S.
BRUSSELS — The European Union and Japan pressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade envoy Saturday to exempt them, as longtime U.S. allies, from upcoming steel tariffs that have sparked fears of a new trade war.
But they appeared to win no quick concessions.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said after meetings in Brussels that she got “no immediate clarity on the exact U.S. procedure for exemption,” and that new talks are planned this week.
The tariffs come into force in two weeks, and if the 28- nation EU cannot secure an exemption, it has threatened retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products like peanut butter and orange juice. Japan has warned of the dangers of tit-for-tat measures.
“I had a frank discussion with the U. S. side about the serious pending issue of steel/aluminum tariffs,” Malmstrom wrote on Twitter after meeting with with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. “As a close security and trade partner of the U.S., the E.U. must be excluded from the announced measures.”
The two also met with Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Hiroshige Seko, and all three pledged in a statement afterward to work together to fight dumping that hurts jobs and industries around the world. Dumping is exporting goods at prices lower than home-market prices.
Lighthizer didn’t comment publicly after the meetings. Trump tweeted that he spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying they are “discussing opening up Japan to much better trade with the U.S. Currently have a massive $100 Billion Trade Deficit. Not fair or sustainable. It will all work out!”
Trump is opening up one-on-one trade talks with countries on the new tariffs, to see if he can win concessions for the U.S.
Trump insisted in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron — a leading EU player who is staunchly opposed to the tariffs — that the “decision is necessary and appropriate to protect national security.” The White House said in a statement Saturday that “both presidents discussed alternative ways to address United States concerns.” He did not elaborate.
Trump later tweeted: “The European Union, wonderful countries who
treat the U.S. very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum. If they drop their horrific barriers & tariffs on U.S. products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big Deficit. If not, we Tax Cars etc. FAIR!”
Saturday’s meetings in Brussels had been previously planned but took on greater importance because of Trump’s announcement of a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.
Key U.S. trading partners and businesses have warned that the tariffs could backfire, provoking a trade war and hurting allies like the EU and Japan more than China, their main target.
Japan’s government has warned that the measure could hurt its economic relations with the U.S. But ahead of Saturday’s talks, Seko also cautioned that “falling to exchanges of unilateral measures will not be in the interest of any country,” according to the Kyodo news agency. He was apparently referring to the EU threats of retaliation.
Canada and Mexico have secured exemptions from the tariffs, though the exemptions are conditioned on progress in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
On Friday, Trump appeared to add Australia to the exempt list when he tweeted that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull “is committed to having a very fair and reciprocal military and trade relationship. Working very quickly on a security agreement so we don’t have to impose steel or aluminum tariffs on our ally, the great nation of Australia!”
Turnbull heralded his nation’s apparent exemption Saturday morning after a phone call with Trump, which he described as “a very good and productive discussion.”
Trump said other countries could be spared if they can convince the administration that their steel and aluminum exports don’t threaten American jobs and industry.
The EU insists that it is committed to open, global trade. Malmstrom said the real problem is an oversupply of steel on global markets, and she rejected Trump’s assertion that the tariffs are needed to protect U.S. national security, especially when most EU countries are members of NATO.
EU leaders say the national security argument is illegitimate because even during crisis they could still be expected to be reliable sources of the materials. Instead, they said, Trump is bolstering domestic industries in violation of international trade rules.
The EU exported about 5.5 million tons of steel to the U.S. last year. The U.S. bought 5 percent of Japan’s steel last year but just 1.1 percent of China’s steel.
Foreign steel producers are not only concerned about losing access to the U.S. market but also that steel from other exporters will flood already saturated markets, threatening jobs elsewhere.
The EU has warned that it stands ready to slap “rebalancing” tariffs on about $3.4 billion worth of U.S. steel, agricultural and other products, like peanut butter, cranberries and orange juice.
Some European policymakers said they worried that the tariffs were part of a broader assault by the Trump administration on ties between Europe and Washington, which has been the backbone of the post-World War II Western order.
The United States was “the steward, the leader, of establishing, of developing a system of international relations,” Norbert Rottgen, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel who is the head of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of Germany’s parliament, said at a conference in Brussels. “Now we have a different approach.”
“We are living in historic times of unraveling,” he said.