British industry yesterday welcomed the latest signals that the White House is inching closer to repealing controversial steel tariffs which have inflamed transatlantic trade ties.
With a tit-for-tat trade war looming, Congressional sources said Washington had decided to comply with the World Trade Organisation’s ruling last month that the 30% tariffs on foreign steel imports imposed in March, violated global trade rules.
American newspapers reported that President Bush will lift the tariffs on steel imports by Friday, just days before the European Union is poised to retaliate with $2,2billion of punitive tariffs.
A spokesperson for the US trade representative said: ”No decision has been made. We are reviewing our options.”
Digby Jones, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said any shift in the US position would be a victory for the EU and the government’s lobbying during Bush’s recent visit.
”If it is true, then it will be excellent news for jobs in the UK, jobs in America and for the rest of the world,” he said. ”It’s a great sign for the EU that it can make the US sit up and take notice.”
Washington was granted more time last week by its trading partners before the final rubber-stamping of the WTO decision which would trigger the EU’s retaliation.
The extension gives the administration an extra nine days to withdraw the tariffs, avoiding a potentially embarrassing clash with a trip by Bush to Pittsburgh, the heart of America’s steel industry, today.
US steel manufacturers were still insisting last night that they had not given up hope that the administration would keep the tariffs. ”I have not heard anything from the White House about what the president’s decision is going to be… Any time we ask about a decision, they say the president will let people know when he’s made one,” said Dan DiMicco, president of Nucor, the largest US steel maker.
But privately Bush aides have been briefing that the tariffs have served their purpose by allowing a window for consolidation in the industry which has improved profitability.
”Adjustment is going to happen more quickly without the tariffs,” an administration official said. The White House is also believed to be have been influenced by calculations that more jobs have been lost in companies using steel, because of costlier imports, than have been saved.
”Bush is going to do the right thing. We’re very pleased,” said David Phelps, president of the American Institute for International Steel, which represents steel importers.
To soften the blow to US steel makers, the administration was expected to promise to step up enforcement of rules that penalise steel importers for dumping their products in the US at below-market rates.
Jones said: ”America can be a force for good in trade and the world economy but not when it is indulging in a bout of protectionism.” – Guardian Unlimited Â