Chamber, BusinessEurope Ask for Section 232 Resolution

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and BusinessEurope issued a joint statement ahead of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's visit with President Joe Biden, asking them to "definitively reject protectionism," which the groups said is on the rise, due to "misinformed narratives about industrial decline." She will be in Washington Oct. 20.

"Regardless of the sector -- whether digital, energy, manufacturing, or life sciences -- these [protectionist] policies threaten to impede innovation, limit trade and investment, handicap our highly-skilled workforces, and stifle our shared prosperity," they wrote.

They said they were calling on leaders "to reach a durable agreement to overcome the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, avoid the reimposition of the EU’s retaliatory duties, and address the challenges of global excess capacity and carbon emissions in metals production."

They also said the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council should accelerate its negotiations to eliminate technical barriers to trade and increase trade in sustainable goods.