EU to retaliate against US tariffs on steel, aluminium imports

BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) will announce within hours steps to retaliate against harsh US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced yesterday afternoon, saying it was “bad day” for trade.

The 28-nation bloc “will announce in the next coming hours counter-balancing measures,” Juncker told a conference here after Washington said new tariffs would be effective from 0400 GMT (8am Malaysian time) today.

“This is a bad day for the world trade,” Juncker said. “The European Union cannot react to that without any kind of reaction.”

He said that the EU would also launch a dispute settlement procedure against the United States at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a legal process that could take years.

Juncker’s trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the EU had tried “everything to avoid this outcome” in talks with President Donald Trump’s administration over the last two months.

“I have argued for the EU and the US to engage in a positive transatlantic trade agenda, and for the EU to be fully, permanently and unconditionally exempted from these tariffs,” the Swedish commissioner said. “This is also what EU leaders have asked for.”

Malmstroem said the US side tried to use the threat of sanctions as “leverage to obtain concessions” from the EU but added “this is not the way we do business,” especially between longstanding allies.

“Now that we have clarity, the EU’s response will be proportionate and in accordance with WTO rules,” she added. – AFP