EU braced for US metal tariffs plan
WASHINGTON was to announce plans to slap tariffs on EU steel and aluminium imports as early as yesterday morning, sources said, while the US commerce secretary said any escalation of their trade dispute would depend on the bloc’s reaction.
The two sources briefed on the matter said the decision would land before today’s expiration deadline for exemptions to the planned tariffs.
They said the announcement was planned for yesterday morning in Washington, but that the timing could still change.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the French daily Le Figaro it would be announced either before markets opened or after they closed.
While not confirming directly that the US would decide to impose tariffs, he said: “It’s up to the EU to decide if it wants to take retaliatory measures. The next question would be: How will the (US) President (Donald Trump) react? You saw his reaction when China decided to retaliate.
“If there is an escalation it will be because the EU would have decided to retaliate,” he said, adding that Washington did not want a trade war with the EU.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, whom Ross was scheduled to meet in Paris yesterday morning, said on Wednesday that the EU did not want a trade war either, but would respond if Washington decided to impose tariffs.
In March, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium, but granted temporary exemptions to the EU, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and Argentina.
Trump invoked a 1962 The announcement was planned for yesterday morning, but the timing could still change.
trade law to erect protections for US steel and aluminium producers on national security grounds, amid a worldwide glut of both metals that is largely blamed on excess production in China.
The European Commission, which co-ordinates trade policy for the 28 EU members, has said the bloc should be permanently exempted from the tariffs, since it was not the cause of overcapacity in steel and aluminium.
The commission has said the EU will set duties on €2.8 billion (R40.9bn) of US exports, including peanut butter and denim jeans, if its metals exports to the US worth €6.4bn are subject to tariffs.
The tariffs, which have increased friction with US trading partners worldwide and prompted several challenges before the World Trade Organisation, are aimed at allowing the US steel and aluminium industries to increase their capacity utilisation rates above 80 percent for the first time in years.
Economists say the standoff with the EU could tip toward a trade war, particularly after Trump last week launched another national security investigation into car and truck imports that could lead to new tariffs by the US.
The Trump administration has given permanent metals tariff exemptions to several countries, including Australia, Argentina and South Korea, but in each case set import quotas.