EU expects to hear from U.S. on exemption process in days: EU's Juncker

[March 13, 2018]  STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Commission is expecting to hear from the United States in the coming days how the European Union can avoid U.S. import tariffs on steel and aluminum, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker speaks following a meeting with Bulgarian and Western Balkan leaders in Sofia, Bulgaria, March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

The EU is seeking to be exempted from planned U.S. import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, but says Washington has not made clear how the exemption process works.

The European Union would make the point before EU leaders meet at a summit on March 22-23 that the EU was a long-standing and trusted security partner of the United States and thus not a threat to national security and that the Pentagon only needed 3 percent of U.S. annual steel production to serve its needs.

"We will keep making this point in the run-up to the European Council next week," Juncker told the European Parliament. "We are expecting more clarity on the American side in the coming days and will continue to work with our partners to push for an exemption."

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)

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