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The US pays tribute to Swedish steel and the green transition

30.05.2023

US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken highlights Sweden’s leading role in combining a strong economy with managing the challenges of climate change, DI reports. Anna Stellinger, head of international affairs Swedish Business and Industry, points to the importance of facilitating trade and investment: “Everything that has to do with the green transition is important to us,” she says.

During the ongoing TTC trade meeting in Luleå, EU commissioners and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as Trade Minister Katherine Tai and Minister of Economic Affairs Gina Raimondo visited SSAB’s green steel plant, Hybrit, writes Dagens Industri.

– So much of what we do is about the green transition. Not just a transition to a clean economy, but to an economy that creates the jobs of the future that will affect generations far into the future, said Antony Blinken and highlighted Sweden’s leading role in ensuring that “we can all have strong economies that can withstand the challenges of climate change” .

SSAB’s CEO Martin Lindqvist said he hopes the EU and the US can agree on trade rules and common standards and pointed out that the US is the company’s biggest market.

– For us, it is very honorable to be able to show off what we have achieved and to describe that we have developed a completely new technology and manufacture fossil-free steel.

Anna Stellinger, head of international affairs Swedish Confederation of Enterprise, said that it is important to facilitate trade and investment in both goods and services.

– Everything that has to do with the green transition is important to us, not least in light of the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ and the US’s IRA package.

Anna Stellinger also pointed to the importance of finding a common standard for charging heavy electric vehicles and warned against building separate systems that create new types of trade barriers.