After a meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Joe Biden, the two sides publicly acknowledged they wouldn't meet their Oct. 31 deadline to complete a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum, which is meant to keep out non-market overcapacity from the two markets, as well as privilege trade in green metals between them.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel will visit the White House Oct. 20 to discuss EU-U.S. efforts "to accelerate the global clean energy economy based on secure, resilient supply chains, and will continue cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, including digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence," according to a joint statement Sept. 28. The EU and the U.S. have set Oct. 31 as a deadline to reach an agreement on trade in green steel and in keeping unfairly traded steel out of their markets (see 2307140062). The EU expects that deal to drop the tariff rate quotas on EU steel exports to the U.S. The leaders also will talk about supporting Ukraine.

Vice President Kamala Harris talked about critical minerals with Indonesia's president and resilient supply chains with him and the president of the Philippines and prime minister of Japan during meetings in Jakarta this week on the sidelines of the biannual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN Summit.

President Joe Biden signed the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade First Agreement Implementation Act into law Aug. 7 but said there are constitutional concerns with language that would require the U.S. trade representative to provide negotiating texts to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees "in the midst of negotiations," and would also preclude USTR from presenting its text to Taiwan while Congress is reviewing it.

The White House said the U.S. and Mongolia are exploring opportunities to increase trade. A joint statement with Mongolia said they want to "pursue opportunities for cooperation in the mineral resources sector, clean energy, food security, and the digital economy through existing and new mechanisms, including for capacity building and trade promotion."

Cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese or nickel that is mined or processed in the U.K. will be able to count toward the location requirements for electric vehicles' batteries' critical mineral sourcing under the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, if negotiations are successful, the White House announced June 8, during the British prime minister's visit to the president.

The U.S., Japan, the EU, Canada and the U.K. said that stronger rules are needed to tackle market distortive policies, saying in a statement that with more of these, and "practices to reinforce vulnerabilities," the countries in the G-7 "need to make effective use of existing means while developing new tools as appropriate."

During a press briefing ahead of the visit to Washington of Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a senior administration official said there will be a partnership on critical minerals announced during the visit. The official said there will be U.S. aid to support minerals processing in the Philippines. "This will be linked to electric vehicle components and ICT equipment," the official said.

The Inflation Reduction Act will encourage the building of "a clean energy manufacturing ecosystem, rooted in supply chains here in North America and extending to Europe, Japan and elsewhere," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a speech April 27 in Washington. "This is how we will turn the IRA from a source of friction to a source of strength and reliability."

As drug traffickers shift strategies to get fentanyl into the American black market, the White House says it is working to stop the deadly pills and powders from reaching customers. Previously, the U.S. used the STOP Act to stop small packages containing fentanyl from China; now most mailed fentanyl is already inside the country, and is being mailed from Southwest states, the administration said.