EU's Sefcovic on Steel Talks With US, Tech Regulation

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00:00I'd like to begin with the negotiations with the United States because I think a lot of

00:02people are not very clear on where we are, particularly on the negotiations for steel

00:06and aluminum, those 50% tariffs.

00:08What progress has been made?

00:09Where are we right now?

00:10I was very pleased with the outcome of the visit of my two principal counterparts, Secretary

00:16Latnik and Ambassador Greer.

00:18And I think we kind of reconfirmed also in front of our industry because we had a meeting

00:23with CEOs that if it comes to steel and steel products, we are not each other problem because

00:27we export to each other really minimum amounts.

00:30But what unites us is that we really need to take care of all the capacities which are destroying

00:37the steel production in the US but also in the EU.

00:40And I explain again that we adopted these very far-reaching safeguards if it comes to the imports

00:48of steel from third countries to the EU, which are kind of very much reflecting the measures

00:54which the US has undertaken several months ago.

00:57And therefore, I suggested again, let's go back to the idea where we can kind of build

01:04this ring of France where we would trade on MFN or zero levels and we will have the same,

01:12let's say, measures to take on the global overcapacities.

01:18The situation as it stays right now is that I sent to Secretary Latnik the list of the codes

01:28where we believe that we can definitely lower the tariffs.

01:33I understand there is some interest, especially from the machinery sector, but we didn't proceed

01:40or haven't proceeded to the very concrete negotiations on this type.

01:43So we are talking on the level of teams. We are almost, I would say, in permanent contact

01:47with my counterparts. And I think this would be good for both sides because if America wants

01:51to re-industrialize, they need machines. We produce the machines. We are ready to send

01:55them the machines. But of course, we need to find the solution on the derivatives.

01:58And when Secretary Latnik was here, we caught up with him. He came on Bloomberg Television.

02:02He said that basically in order to make progress on steel and aluminum, there needs to be movement

02:07on regulations for digital industries. So basically stuff that's outside of trade that the United States

02:12considers non-trade barriers or non-tariff barriers within. Is that something that is on the table

02:18in terms of the negotiation? Could that be part of a framework? And is there any other avenue

02:22to get those tariffs down other than basically diminishing European tech regulation?

02:26I think that our tech regulation is adopted democratically by us through very thorough legislative process.

02:36And therefore, we are, of course, going to protect our tech sovereignty. What I heard from Secretary Latnik

02:43and Ambassador Greer was that they wanted to be treated fairly. So we had a lot of discussions.

02:48Are we aiming only at the U.S. companies? Clear answer is no. Just look at the companies

02:56which we are investigating or eventually finding. And are we kind of, you know, favoring the European

03:04companies in this case? Again, no. And I was just providing my both counterparts with the fact

03:11that a lot of these investigations are actually prompted by the complaints which are coming

03:17from American companies which are also located here in the EU. They want to make sure that U.S.

03:24companies are treated fairly in non-discriminatory manner when we would use more, I would say,

03:30the possibility of the settlement than fines. And all these things have been also discussed

03:35with the American partners also by my colleagues who are responsible for these sectors.

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