Former NI ace Danny gets on his bike for a good cause
DONALD Trump’s decision to hit EU steel and aluminium imports to the US with tariffs is “unjustified”, Theresa May has said.
The Prime Minister said she was “disappointed” at the decision to impose a 25% duty on European steel and a 10% duty on European aluminium, which both came into effect yesterday.
She added her voice to calls for British and European products to be exempt from the charges, saying they contributed to US national security projects.
It came after the EU said it would introduce retaliatory tariffs after Mr Trump’s “illegal” and “dangerous” decision.
Mrs May said: “I am deeply disappointed at the unjustified decision by the US to apply tariffs to EU steel and aluminium imports.
“The US, EU and UK are close allies and have always promoted values of open and fair trade across the world.
“Our steel and aluminium industries are hugely important to the UK, but they also contribute to US industry including in defence projects which bolster US national security.
“The EU and UK should be permanently exempted from tariffs and we will continue to work together to protect and safeguard our workers and industries.”
Mr Trump originally imposed the tariffs in March, saying a reliance on imported metals threatened national security.
But he exempted Canada, Mexico and the European Union to buy time for negotiations — a reprieve that expired at midnight on Thursday.
Cecilia Malmstrom, the EU trade commissioner, announced the EU would be seeking to implement a number of retaliatory WHEN you’ve scored in a Wembley cup final and guided an unfashionable club to the promised land of the Premier League against the odds it can be difficult to rediscover that sense of satisfaction.
Danny Wilson, who won 24 caps for Northern Ireland between 1987 and 1992 has found tariffs on American products by June 20.
Ms Malmstrom accused Mr Trump of “playing a dangerous game” as she confirmed the EU would be taking “proportionate and measured” action against the US. a way though — by getting on his bike.
Wilson’s two-wheeled journey is no ordinary ride though. For the second year in-a-row he is taking part in Prostate Cancer UK’s Football to Amsterdam event, having left his old stomping ground of Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium yesterday on a 145-mile venture that will end at Holland’s national stadium, the Amsterdam Arena, this afternoon.
The commissioner refused to say Mr Trump had started a trade war, but said he had created a “very worrying situation”.
She added: “This is further weakening the transatlantic relations and it also increases the risk of severe turbulences in the
“It was fantastic last year. The camaraderie was great and it was topped off with the feeling you get when you all cross the finish line together,” said 58-yearold Wilson, who netted in Luton Town’s 3-2 win over Arsenal in the 1998 League Cup final before taking Barnsley into the top flight of English football for the first time in 1997.
“There are riders coming from different directions — we started markets globally.” Ms Malmstrom said a final decision on what products would be hit with tariffs had not yet been made, but added that they would be from an already published list which includes the likes of Levi’s jeans, bourbon whiskey, cranberries in Yorkshire and others started in London — and when you all come together at the end it is a great feeling. It’s a different feeling to what I’ve experienced in football, but there’s a real sense of achievement in doing it and one that I didn’t expect. It was a real celebration of doing something for a great cause and it’s a nice feeling knowing that you’ve done something to help raise over £600,000. and peanut butter. She said: “We are not seeking to escalate any situation but we need to respond and we’ll do so in a measured manner, but not responding would be the same as accepting these tariffs which we consider are illegal.”
“It goes to help a lot of people. Some of them were on the bike ride, some there had friends or family who had been cancer sufferers and there was a great feeling or togetherness among us all.”
Danny Wilson is taking part in Prostate Cancer UK’s Football to Amsterdam bike ride this weekend. For information go to http://prostatecanceruk.org/amsterdamor email cycling@prostatecanceruk.org
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox previously said in a statement that the UK would support any EU appeal to the WTO.
Gareth Stace, director of trade body UK Steel, said that he was “very, very worried” about the potential impact of a “double whammy” on British producers from the Trump administration’s decision.
UK steel producers could be shut out of an American market where they sold around £350m of exports last year, while also facing increased competition from a “tsunami” of as much as 25 million tonnes of cheap steel diverted away from the US, he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One.
He added that it was too early to speculate on the likely impact on jobs, but said: “At worst, we could fall straight back into the crisis we suffered in 2015/16, which was the worst steel crisis in a generation.
“We are heading for a trade war, which is going to be all losers — there will be no winners. The US economy will suffer as much as any other economy.”
Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner earlier warned the UK Government to “strongly respond” to the move.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “We believe in a rulesbased system, a multilateral system, President Trump doesn’t and we must understand that. He wants to break up that system.”
Former White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci, also speaking to Radio 4, said that with Mr Trump there was “always room for negotiation”.
He said: “I am sure that there are chips on both sides that can get traded to make the problem go away.”