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President Biden will keep in place the Trump administration’s aluminum tariffs on the United Arab Emirates, after initially reversing the policy.

In a proclamation issued Monday, the 46th commander-in-chief explained that he would maintain the 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imports, which were first imposed by the Trump administration in March 2018.

As he traveled on Air Force One from Washington to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation exempting the UAE from the duty he had imposed three years earlier.

The decision, Trump said at the time, came as a result of the two nations reaching an agreement to limit aluminum imports after becoming a “major security partner.”

In September, the UAE, Bahrain and Israel signed the “Abraham Accords,” normalizing relations between Israel and the two Arab nations.

In signing the agreement, they became the third and fourth Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. The breakthrough also established direct commercial flights between Israel and the UAE.


  The tariffs were first imposed by the Trump administration in March 2018. Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty Images The tariffs were first imposed by the Trump administration in March 2018. Akos Stiller/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In November, the 45th president attempted to push through a $23 billion arms sale to the Emirates, focused on drones, fighter jets and air-to-air missiles.

The Biden administration has said it is reviewing those transactions.

With regard to the tariffs, Biden argued that keeping them in place would prevent the utilization of US-made materials.

“In my view, the available evidence indicates that imports from the UAE may still displace domestic production, and thereby threaten to impair our national security,” Biden’s proclamation released Monday read.


  The UAE, Bahrain and Israel signed the “Abraham Accords,” normalizing relations between the countries. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images The UAE, Bahrain and Israel signed the “Abraham Accords,” normalizing relations between the countries. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

“I believe that maintaining the tariff is likely to be more effective in protecting our national security than the untested quota,” he continued, with “the untested quota” serving as a reference to his predecessor’s action.

A spokesperson for the United Arab Emirates embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on the matter.

With Post wires

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