Trade Policy Update

Anne-Marie Trevelyan Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Trade (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

Since launching the negotiations on 19 January 2022, there have been 13 sessions between teams and five negotiations between the Trade Secretary and her opposite number. Yesterday, in Washington, the Trade Secretary met the US Commerce Secretary to discuss the resolution of US tariffs on UK steel and aluminium.

These US tariffs, imposed in 2018, restricted imports of certain steel and aluminium into the US, with additional duties of 25% and 10% respectively.

After two months of intense negotiations, we agreed a bespoke solution with the US which reflects the needs of our steel and aluminium industries.

This Government welcome the US decision to replace their Section 232 tariffs on imports of certain UK steel and aluminium products with “tariff-rate quotas” (TRQs), effective as of 1 June 2022. This solution reopens tariff free access to the US market back to levels before section 232 tariffs up to a specified volume.

The key elements of the solution are as follows:

On steel, the US will provide duty free access per annum for 500 thousand metric tonnes across 54 product categories within a TRQ. This provides certainty for UK industry, in terms of being able to maintain current export levels in the face of global competition, but also provides scope for growth in our exports to the US.

On aluminium the US will provide duty free access per annum for 21.6 thousand metric tonnes within a TRQ.

As part of the solution, we have also agreed to a future bilateral dialogue with the US on how best to tackle the critical issues of global excess capacity and the carbon intensity of our steel and aluminium industries. This will form a strong foundation for our engagement with the US going forward to ensure our domestic industry continues to be protected.

The removal of tariffs provides welcome relief to our steel and aluminium sectors, which support the jobs of around 80,000 people across the UK supply chain.

Both the UK and the US will need time to implement the solution. The TRQs will be implemented from 1 June 2022. The UK’s rebalancing measures will be suspended from this same date.

Reaching a solution on Section 232 clears the way for us to focus on strengthening the overall UK-US trading relationship, as we have demonstrated with the launch of the UK-US Joint Dialogues on the Future of Atlantic Trade, the first of which took place in Baltimore on 21 and 22 March. These dialogues demonstrate that we are closely aligned with the US on championing and advancing trade policy which helps build a fairer, freer, greener global economy and trading relationship. They will encourage closer collaboration on shared values such as our respective Levelling Up and ‘Build Back Better’ agendas, as well as explore ways to drive more modern, innovative approaches to international trade with our biggest trading partner in areas such as digital, green trade and supporting SMEs.

The dialogues will continue in the UK later this spring.

[HCWS710]