United States

The following communication, dated and received on 22 May 2025, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of the United States.

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The United States has received the European Union's (EU) notification^* under Article 12.5 of the Agreement on Safeguards, dated 15 April 2025, regarding its proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2, with respect to the tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum and their derivatives pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The United States notes that, similar to its 12 March 2025 request for consultations under Article 12.3 of the Agreement on Safeguards, the premise for the EU's proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2 is that the tariffs are safeguard measures for purposes of that Agreement. The President imposed the tariffs on steel and aluminum and their derivatives pursuant to Section 232, under which the President determined that tariffs are necessary to adjust imports of these articles that threaten to impair the national security of the United States. Section 232 is a national security statute, and the United States is maintaining these actions pursuant to the essential security exception in Article XXI of the GATT 1994.

The United States did not take action pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is the law under which the United States imposes safeguard measures.[1] The United States is not maintaining these actions pursuant to the safeguards / emergency action provision in Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards. These actions are, therefore, not safeguard measures. Accordingly, there is no basis for the EU's proposal to suspend concessions or other obligations under Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards with respect to these measures.

Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Safeguards states, in relevant part, that an exporting Member shall be free to suspend, upon the expiration of 30 days from the day on which written notice of suspension of concessions is received by the Council for Trade in Goods, "the application of substantially equivalent concessions or other obligations under GATT 1994, to the trade of the Member applying the safeguard measure." However, the United States is not "applying [a] safeguard measure." Thus, by its terms, Article 8.2 cannot accommodate the EU's proposal.

Moreover, Article 8.2 prefaces an exporting Member's ability to suspend such concessions upon holding consultations under Article 12.3 with the Member applying the safeguard measure. Although the EU previously requested Article 12.3 consultations with the United States regarding these Section 232 tariffs on 12 March 2025 that are now referenced in its 15 April 2025 notification, the EU was unwilling to engage in discussions with the United States. Accordingly, the EU has not even complied with the obligations under the Agreement on Safeguards, the agreement that it mistakenly contends applies to the tariffs at issue.

The United States will not discuss the Section 232 tariffs under the Agreement on Safeguards as we do not view the tariffs as a safeguard measure.

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