Clete Willems Quoted in Financial Times on Possible US/EU Metal Tariff Trade War

Financial Times has quoted Akin Gump public law and policy partner Clete Willems in the article “The transatlantic trade rift is far from fixed.”

The article reports that, while the European Union said this week it would not go through with its planned escalation of a trade war with the United States after the imposition of Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum by former President Donald, there is still no resolution to the issue.

According to the FT, in order for a deal to be struck, the U.S. steel industry and others who support the tariffs would need assurances that removing them would not lead to a flood of imports depressing metal prices.

Willems, a former Trump administration trade official, said the U.S. and EU could do more to work together on the issue of transshipment, where steel from countries known to be overproducing avoids tariffs by being processed via a third country.

Beefed up monitoring mechanisms and better multilateral communication between U.S. allies would be needed, Willems said. Quotas could also be an option, with a tariff triggered when imports rise above historical norms, usually determined roughly as the average of the previous three years.