According to its own information, the USA has reached an agreement with the EU on the long-standing dispute over American special tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Saturday on the sidelines of the summit of the 20 major economic powers in Rome.

US President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said that one of the biggest issues in the relationship between the transatlantic partners was resolved.

According to the agreement in principle, the EU will be able to import certain amounts of the metals into the USA duty-free, explained Raimondo.

In addition, both parties would suspend pending proceedings in the matter before the bodies of the World Trade Organization (WTO), she said.

When asked, the EU Commission initially did not comment on the announcements.

The trade conflict was instigated in 2018 by then US President Donald Trump.

Trump had introduced special tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The EU responded with retaliatory tariffs on US products such as jeans, bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and peanut butter.

Trump had justified the special tariffs "with national security interests".

The EU considered this to be implausible and assumes that it was a matter of protecting the US economy from unwanted competition.

The EU's retaliatory tariffs on US products should have increased before the end of the year, said Raimondo. This has now been averted with the agreement. At the same time, it will ensure that no steel or aluminum products can be imported from the EU, some of which come from China. The US accuses Beijing of subsidizing domestic industry and creating artificially low prices for unfair competition.

As early as June, the EU and the USA suspended punitive tariffs on products such as airplanes, wine and ketchup until 2026.

The agreement is intended to make it possible to calmly resolve the dispute over state aid for the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and its European rival Airbus.

It had been escalated by Trump with the introduction of punitive tariffs on imports from the EU.

The Union reacted at that time with special levies on imports from the USA.