Raimondo announces deal with British counterpart on steel, aluminum tariffs

The U.S. and Britain on Tuesday announced an agreement to permit “historically-based sustainable volumes of U.K. steel and aluminum products” to be imported into the U.S.

“Today’s historic deal is a testament to that ambitious goal and will benefit America’s steel and aluminum industries and workers by protecting manufacturing, as well as consumers by easing inflationary pressures in the U.S,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. 

The agreement will also require that any U.K. steel company with Chinese ownership be audited to assess how much influence China’s government has on the company, the announcement said. 

It will also do away with “retaliatory tariffs on over $500 million worth of U.S. exports to the U.K” including staple American products such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi Strauss jeans, bourbon whiskey and more, sources told Reuters.

“By allowing for a flow of duty-free steel and aluminum from the U.K., we further ease the gap between supply and demand for these products in the United States. And by removing the U.K.’s retaliatory tariffs, we reopen the British market to beloved American products,” Raimondo added in the announcement.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai also said that the agreement “delivers on President Biden’s vision to repair relationships with our allies.”

Raimondo previously told reporters that she was “getting close” to ending the four-year dispute that began with former President Trump’s 2018 global tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, Reuters added.