How will the EU pay the US for the absence of duties on steel and aluminum?

Brussels continues negotiations with Washington on the introduction of additional fees for steel and aluminum in the European Union. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroy has just said that she is still unsure of what the United States wants in exchange for excluding the Community.

US President Donald Trump decided that the European Union and six countries will be excluded from the imposed duties on steel and aluminum temporarily, until May 1. However, the EU requires a permanent exemption.

On Thursday (April 12) in Copenhagen, Commissioner Malmstroem, speaking on behalf of the Community, says it is still unclear what Washington wants in exchange for permanent EU liberation, she said, "We still have doubts."

She added that she is in constant contact with the US Secretary of Commerce Wilber Ross.

At the March EU summit in Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker assessed that the May 1 deadline for a Community-US trade agreement was unrealistic.

EU leaders called on the US at a summit in the Belgian capital to permanently exclude the Community from the new tariffs on steel and aluminum.

In addition to the EU, the United States has cleared Australia, Argentina, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico from customs. Trump initially said that only the last two countries would be excluded.

Meanwhile, diplomats stress that the problem lies in the overall US approach to the EU and China. Americans pay attention not only to the problem of overproduction of subsidized rolled metal products, but also to the problem of intellectual property and the surplus of the US trade balance.

On March 8, President Trump signed a decree imposing a duty on steel and aluminum. He said the authorities are dealing with an encroachment on the United States. He referred to the 1962 conditions, in other words, the Cold War, which allows the president to restrict imports and impose unlimited tariffs.