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US-EU summit yields call for balanced approach to China, urging ‘constructive and stable relations’
- Despite a cornerstone metals deal proving elusive at their Washington meeting, the allies agree Beijing is distorting the global steel market
- Joint statement from summit encourages direct engagement with China on global issues like climate change and pandemic preparedness
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Unable to reach a deal that could have resulted in additional tariffs on Chinese metals products, the US and EU at their top-level discussion in Washington agreed to take a balanced approach towards Beijing seeking “constructive and stable relations”.
In the run-up to the transatlantic summit at the White House on Friday, a steel and aluminium agreement was being primed as the cornerstone achievement for US President Joe Biden in his meeting with European Council president Charles Michel and commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
The key European demand was a permanent removal of all Trump-era tariffs on EU exports. In exchange, the US wanted the EU to investigate and place tariffs on “the sources of non-market excess capacity” – broadly read as shorthand for China, the world’s largest exporter of both products.
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However, amid European concerns over complying with World Trade Organization rules and after the US floated a snapback clause that would allow tariffs to be reimposed, talks finished without a deal.
Both sides agreed that China was distorting the global steel market, but they did not align on how to tackle it in a legal manner. The joint statement pledged to continue discussions, ahead of a year-end deadline that would see the automatic renewal of tariffs frozen in a stopgap deal two years ago.
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