A deal to ease stiff tariffs on imported European steel and aluminum will also lay the groundwork to use international climate policy to curb China's overproduction of steel, according to the Biden administration.

President Joe Biden told the travel press pool Sunday that the agreement “demonstrates how by harnessing our diplomatic and economic power, we can reject the false idea that we can't grow our economy and support American workers while tackling the climate crisis.”

Biden said the climate portion of the agreement, which is still under development, will “incentivize emission reductions in one of the most carbon-intensive sectors of the global economy; restrict access to our markets for dirty steel from countries like China; and counter countries that dump steel in our markets, hammering our workers and harming them badly along with the industry and our environment.”

He made a joint appearance in Rome with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen where the two briefly discussed the deal and took no questions.

“We will work together with the United States to ensure the long-term viability of our industry and to encourage the production and trade of low-carbon steel,” von der Leyen said.

The two leaders' comments come after Biden administration officials outlined the agreement Saturday in a briefing call.

In the near term, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the agreement would reduce tensions between the U.S. and the European Union over U.S. tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imposed by the Trump administration under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

Raimondo, whose department oversees the steel and aluminum tariffs, said in a statement that the agreement would protect the American steel and aluminum industries, particularly from excess capacity driven by China dumping steel into the markets.

“For far too long, China was routing its cheap steel into the U.S. via Europe and other markets, which drove down prices and made it essentially impossible for America's steel and aluminum industry to compete and, of course, in so doing, hurting the industry and hurting our workers,” Raimondo said.

The contentious tariffs stem from two executive orders President Donald Trump used in April 2017 to direct the Commerce Department to investigate the national security threat posed by steel and aluminum imports under Section 232.

The department concluded that foreign-made steel and aluminum were economic and national security threats and that imports forced domestic plants to close. As a result, the department said the United States had become increasingly dependent on steel and aluminum imports for commercial and military uses.

Raimondo said the Biden administration's agreement with the EU will protect national interests while providing relief to U.S. businesses and consumers who have paid steeper prices for steel used in appliances, cars and homes.

Tai said the agreement represents the Biden administration's principles of international cooperation to push China to follow trade rules while also keeping U.S. workers and communities in mind.

Raimondo, Tai and Sullivan spoke on the record during the Saturday call with reporters, while other Biden officials spoke on condition that they be identified only as senior administration officials.

One senior official said the agreement allowing negotiated levels of EU steel and aluminum into the U.S. tariff-free would remove “one of the largest bilateral irritants between the U.S. and the EU.” The application of duty-free status to specific volumes of imported goods is known as a tariff-rate quota. Volumes above the agreed-upon limits would be subject to the full duties.

The volume of EU steel and aluminum not subject to the tariffs will be based on the U.S. import history for the metals.

Another administration official said companies that were granted and used Section 232 tariff exclusions or exemptions to import certain steel products in the past year could have those exemptions extended for up to two years by the Commerce Department. The department will continue to enable companies to seek Section 232 tariff exemptions for steel and aluminum products.

EU drops retaliatory tariffs

In return, the EU will end retaliatory duties on selected U.S. products, removing the threat of doubling those tariffs to 50 percent on Dec. 1. The U.S. and the EU also will end their respective Section 232 cases pending at the World Trade Organization against each other.

The Distilled Spirits Council has been vocal about its opposition to the tariffs, arguing that the duties on U.S. whiskeys have cut EU sales by 37 percent.

Raimondo and Tai said the agreement will apply the tariff breaks to EU steel “melted and poured” by the group's member nations, a step designed to reduce the use of steel imports from China by the 27-nation bloc. The U.S. and the EU will establish a monitoring system to track non-European steel products.

A senior administration official said the melt-and-pour standard offers a way “to work with the EU to ensure that Chinese steel doesn't get transshipped or doesn't get utilized in European steel products that come into the United States.”

The arrangement marks an increased effort to stop the overwhelming flow of cheaper steel from China that steel makers in the U.S., EU and other countries say is heavily subsidized and hard to compete against. China is the world's top steel producer and accounted for more than half the world's steel stocks. Most of China's steel does not enter the U.S directly but its production drives down global prices.

Industry groups and Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden issued generally positive assessments of the deal.

“I'm encouraged that this announcement takes significant steps to resolve the tariffs on European steel and aluminum and to begin a new phase of substantial cooperation on overcapacity, climate, and other issues facing the steel and aluminum industries,” Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.

Kevin Dempsey, CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said the agreement offers important steps to guard against surges of steel imports that could undercut U.S. steel makers.