(November 4, 2021) – American Chemistry Council (ACC) President and CEO, Chris Jahn, and Cefic Director General, Marco Mensink, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. and EU agreement to end the harmful tariffs impacting the transatlantic chemical industry:
“The U.S. and European chemicals industries welcome the agreement on steel and aluminum trade announced during the G-20 summit. The chemicals industry is one of the most globalized industrial sectors, both in the EU and in the U.S., and is highly dependent on open and fair trade. As longstanding supporters of free trade, ACC and Cefic believe tariffs between close allies such as ours should not exist. We look forward to this week’s compromise helping to ease the tariff burden on transatlantic chemical manufacturers.
“We also encourage the U.S. and EU to work together to seek a long term-solution to avoid managed trade measures – like tariffs, quotas, and tariff-rate quotas – based on unsubstantiated national security concerns. A tariff-free trading environment between the U.S. and EU is the best way to unlock the full potential of chemicals and downstream manufacturing growth on both sides of the Atlantic, especially as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to call for both sides to fully eliminate transatlantic chemical tariffs in the future.
“Demonstrated leadership on suspending tariffs should also further strengthen the U.S.-EU relationship and cooperation within the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the suspension of these tariffs, modernizing the WTO and the rules-based international trading system would be the sensible next step toward protecting, promoting, and enforcing free and fair trade around the globe.”
