UK-US deal for lower car and aerospace duties takes effect
LONDON: A trade deal cutting tariffs on British exports of automobiles and aerospace equipment to the United States takes effect Monday, as the two sides continue to negotiate over steel duties.
'From today, British car and aerospace manufacturers will benefit from major tariff reductions when exporting to the US, saving thousands of jobs,' the UK Department of Trade said in a statement Monday. London and Washington reached an agreement in May to cut US tariffs on cars from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, with a limit of 100,000 vehicles a year. It also fully eliminated a 10-percent tariff on goods such as engines and aircraft parts. 'Our historic trade deal with the United States delivers for British businesses and protects UK jobs,' Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in the same statement. 'From today, our world-class automotive and aerospace industries will see tariffs slashed, safeguarding key industries that are vital to our economy.'
In return, Britain agreed to further open its market to US ethanol and beef. That has raised concerns in the chemical industry and among British farmers, even though the meat would still have to meet UK food safety standards. London is still negotiating for lower tariffs for its steel and aluminum exports to the United States, which has raised its levies to 25 percent. 'We will continue go further and make progress towards zero percent tariffs on core steel products,' the trade department said in the statement.
Meanwhile, China will maintain duties on certain steel products from the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Indonesia, its commerce ministry said Monday, as overcapacity concerns drive global trade turbulence. The duties on stainless steel billets and hot-rolled plates, first levied by Beijing in 2019, range from 20.2 percent for Indonesian imports to 43 percent for those from the EU.
China's commerce ministry said that an internal investigation found the potential termination of the anti-dumping duties could still cause 'damage' to the domestic stainless steel industry.
Authorities will therefore continue to impose duties on products from the three countries and the European bloc 'for a period of five years starting from July 1', the ministry said in a statement. China, the world's largest steel producer, first took the measures in response to tariffs imposed on it by the United States during Donald Trump's first presidential term.
The US tariffs were motivated by fears in Washington and among its allies that unfair industrial policies in China had led to a global glut of cheap exports, threatening to undercut local producers. Since returning to office in January, Trump has sent the world economy into a tailspin with a tariff blitz that has hit Chinese exports particularly hard. Trade tensions between the world's top two economies remain high despite China and the United States reaching a temporary truce to the tariff war this month. — AFP
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