The administration of former US president Donald Trump had placed taxes on EU steel and aluminium in 2018 on the claim that the foreign products produced by US allies were a threat to US national security.
Europeans and other allies were outraged by Trump's use of Article 232 to justify the tariffs, leading many to impose countertariffs on US-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans among other items.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the agreement on Saturday.
They said that the Article 232 tariffs will not be removed entirely but that some quantity of European steel and aluminium will be allowed to enter the US without tariffs under the deal.
"We were able to reach an agreement whereby the EU will drop their retaliatory tariffs (on US goods)," Raimondo said.
The agreement would ensure "that all steel entering the US via Europe is produced entirely in Europe," Raimondo added.
The easing of the tariffs is a key step in unwinding one of Trump's legacies as Biden has tried to reset the US relationship with Europe.
This back-and-forth hurt European producers and raised steel costs for US companies.
The tariffs apparently did not achieve Trump's stated goals of creating jobs at steel mills.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate jobs in the manufacturing of primary metals did rise slightly, to as much as 389,100 in 2019.
But mills shed workers during the pandemic and employment in the sector is roughly half of what it was in 1990.
The European Union took steps in May to improve relations.
On some retaliatory tariffs, the EU temporarily suspended planned increases.
This meant that US whiskey faced a 25 per cent tax in Europe instead of a planned 50 per cent tax.
The two sides faced a December deadline to avoid the higher tax rate.
