EU Trade Commissioner Says Section 232 Tariffs and Retaliation Should Have Six-Month Pause

European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, in a Der Spiegel interview published April 10, said that the EU has offered to lift its retaliatory tariffs in response to 25% tariffs on EU steel and 10% tariffs on EU aluminum, while they try to resolve the overcapacity problem. “We have proposed suspending all mutual tariffs for six months in order to reach a negotiated solution,” Dombrovskis said, according to the EU press office in Washington. “This would create a necessary breathing space for industries and workers on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.

Although the language is all mutual tariffs, which would seem to extend the Airbus-Boeing tariffs pause, as well, the article only mentions the steel trade dispute. The press offices of the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn't respond by press time.