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EU Trade Chief Maroš Šefčovič is visiting the US on Thursday and Friday in a bid to unlock negotiations over EU steel and aluminium exports still hit by the 50% US tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump shortly after his return to power last year.
Scrapping those tariffs was part of the EU-US trade deal struck in July 2025, which included commitments to discuss quota arrangements for steel and aluminium to replace the 50% duties.
However implementation of the broader accord — including cuts to EU tariffs on US industrial goods — has been delayed by MEPs, effectively stalling talks on metals.
Taking stock
European Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Olof Gill said on Tuesday that the trip will be an “opportunity to take stock of the broad sweep of EU/US trade deal and investment relations”.
He added that the focus will be on where both sides “stand” on the implementation of their “respective commitments” under the deal.
Resolving issues over the trade of steel and aluminium will be top of the agenda, Euronews has learned.
The agreement was clinched in summer 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump after weeks of trade tensions, during which Šefčovič made repeated trips to Washington to defuse the dispute and avert steeper tariffs.
The Commission ultimately accepted 15% duties on European exports to the US in a deal widely seen as unbalanced in Europe. The agreement is now under discussion among EU countries and MEPs before full implementation.
Šefčovič’s visit will be his first since the Turnberry accord. The deal has since been frozen several times by EU lawmakers following fresh tariff threats by Trump over Greenland.
A ruling by the US Supreme Court also reshuffled the deck, finding that most US tariffs imposed in 2025 were illegal. In the days following, the White House shifted legal grounds to maintain tariffs as part of its nationalist ‘America First’ trade agenda. However, those measures are set to expire in July, after which they will require approval from US Congress.
Pressure points
In the coming days, Šefčovič aims to ensure the US sticks to the agreed 15% tariffs. His agenda includes meetings with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He will also head to Capitol Hill to meet members of the US Congress.
Washington has also tied the removal of steel and aluminium tariffs to EU moves to relax digital rules it sees as targeting US Big Tech firms.
While the Commission has always defended its sovereign right to legislate — insisting rules are applied without discrimination — discussions on setting up an EU-US forum on digital issues have recently surfaced.
Whether that still-vague concession will be enough to secure US movement on metals remains to be seen.