US will remove UK steel tariffs 'when the time is right'

The US is in no rush to agree a deal to ease tariffs on British steel, the country's top trade official indicated on Wednesday.

Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the border taxes on British steel and aluminium exports would be addressed "when the time is right".

British exporters currently pay a 25% duty on steel shipments to the US.

However their European counterparts are able to export to the US tariff-free after a deal was struck last year.

The US suspended Trump-era tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium levied on European products, but left them in place on UK exports.

One UK steel exporter has already said it is shifting production to Spain as a result. United Cast Bar Limited told the BBC it was unlikely to move production back to the UK once it had been moved, unless an agreement was reached with the US very quickly.

Ms Tai said it had taken six months to reach an agreement with the EU. Washington has also opened formal negotiations with Japan about the ongoing tariffs on its metals.

"It's a matter of pragmatism," she said, referring to when a deal might be struck with the UK.

"We just need to have a process that makes sense, but the UK is very much on our minds and I am confident that we will take this up when the time is right," she said.

Ms Tai was speaking to an online forum hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin.

Washington has voiced concerns that the UK government's plans to redraw trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, agreed when the UK left the European Union, could threaten peace on the island of Ireland.

Ms Tai refused to be drawn directly on whether the US will link resolution of the steel dispute to negotiations over the Northern Ireland protocol.

But she said the Biden administration would continue to follow closely any developments between Britain and the EU on issues relating to Northern Ireland, and said it was encouraging both sides to find a durable solution.

She added that she and President Joe Biden "care deeply about supporting the Good Friday Agreement" that maintains open borders on the island.