Allies, rivals slam move

BEIJING: United States trading partners, led by Asian powerhouses China and Japan, lashed out yesterday at controversial tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium signed off by President Donald Trump, as fears grew of a global trade war.

Close ally Japan warned the tariffs of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium “could have a grave impact on the economic relationship” between the world’s top and thirdlargest economies.

Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the move could harm the global trading system and the entire world economy and said Tokyo would urge the US to give the country an exemption.

The world’s second-biggest economy, China, was also vocal in its opposition, deriding the tariffs as “a serious attack on normal international trade order.”

In a sharp reversal from decades of a US-led drive towards more open trade, Trump declared on Thursday that America had been “ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices”.

Trump said the tariffs — which will come into effect after 15 days — would not initially apply to Canada and Mexico, and that close partners on security and trade could negotiate exemptions.

Major producer Brazil immediately vowed to take “all necessary steps” in order to “protect its rights and interests” in response to the US move.