Jonathan Joseph of BBC is reporting that the European Union and the United States have agreed to pause their trade war until after the presidential election. He writes:
US tariffs on steel and aluminium and the EU’s retaliation on goods including motorcycles and whisky will be suspended until the end of March 2025.
They were originally imposed when Donald Trump was president on national security grounds.
But they were paused under Joe Biden’s administration.
The deferment will allow President Biden to keep his EU allies onside.
But because they have been paused and not abolished, he will appear to be tough on trade for a domestic audience.
The US metal industry provides jobs in places such as Pennsylvania and Ohio – states which could be crucial to President Biden in the election in November 2024. […]
The Biden administration has repeatedly said it wants to see reform of global trade rules including the WTO and its system for resolving disputes. However, it has not published a lot of detail of what that those changes would be.
It means there are low expectations for a major meeting of the WTO which is scheduled for Abu Dhabi in February.
Last week the French trade minister Olivier Becht said “it’s important to be prepared in case it’s not possible to save the system”.
Read more here.
