Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/1/21

The Biden administration announced it will ease tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU under an agreement reached Saturday, reports Pro Trade’s Steven Overly . The deal resolves a Trump-era dispute that for years has tarnished trade relations between the longtime allies and resulted in retaliatory tariffs on multiple U.S. agriculture products.

The clearest winners of the new deal are industries that argue they never should have been dragged into the dispute in the first place, including many food and farm groups. The EU will cancel 25 percent retaliatory tariffs that have hampered exports of a wide range of American goods, drawing celebratory remarks from makers of whiskey, butter, pork and more.

“While the dispute centered around steel and aluminum, farmers were swept up in the turmoil as the EU clamped down on U.S. agricultural exports like orange juice, butter, cheese, pork, nuts and many more,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a statement. “It’s crucial that we now restore those trade relationships.”

The EU was set to double its tariffs in June if the two sides had not agreed to start negotiations — a threat that terrified the affected industries, and one that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo acknowledged “a business can’t survive” in remarks on Saturday.
Now some of those exporters are pushing the U.S. to go further and settle trade disputes with the U.K. and China that have kept tariffs in place on American goods.

“We welcome the announcement that the U.S. and EU have come to an agreement on the [Section] 232 steel and aluminum tariffs and the EU has pledged to eliminate retaliatory tariffs against U.S. exports,” Maria Zieba, assistant vice president of the National Pork Producers Council, said in a statement to MA. “We are eager to see the U.S. turn its full attention to resolving the ongoing 232 steel and aluminum tariff dispute with China, where U.S. pork exports continue to face a [25 percent] retaliatory duty.”

Chris Swonger, CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council: “The end of this long tariff nightmare is in sight for U.S. distillers, who have struggled with the weight of the tariffs and the pandemic. It’s time for the U.K. to lift its tariff on American Whiskeys so we can all get back to toasts, not tariffs.”