US hits its trading partners with new steel tariffs

The United States has imposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the European Union, Mexico, and Canada.

US President Donald Trump had first called for the new taxes – 25 percent tax on steel and 10 percent on aluminum – three months ago and their delayed implementation was widely expected, despite last-ditch negotiations held this week in France.

Several senior figures in the EU have said the bloc will retaliate with tariffs of its own.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the US decision, the BBC reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron had earlier warned the US not to go head-to-head with Europe, according to The Associated Press, while the BBC said Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, said the tariffs were unjustified and dangerous.

“It’s entirely up to US authorities whether they want to enter into a trade conflict with their biggest partner, Europe,” Le Maire said after last-minute talks in Paris with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appeared to have failed but before the US announced its decision.

Le Maire said the EU would respond with “all necessary measures”.

The Guardian newspaper said Ross told his counterparts at the Paris meeting that Europe should not use the tariffs as “an excuse” to stop negotiating with the US over trade. He told counterparts China was continuing to talk to the US, despite being the subject of tariffs.

“God knows, there are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us,” he said. “So, it’s not that you can’t talk just because there are tariffs.”

The commerce secretary is expected to visit Beijing on the weekend for a second round of trade talks with China.

Gareth Stace, head of the British trade organization UK Steel, said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program just ahead of the announcement that the tariffs would be levied that they were “purely protectionist” and amounted to EU leaders having a “gun held to their head”. He said they were against World Trade Organization rules.

The Wall Street Journal predicted the EU would respond with new tariffs on US products, including motorcycles, bourbon, and jeans.

The US blamed national security concerns for the new tariffs. It initially gave the EU a temporary exemption while it tried to persuade Europe’s steel producers to cut production. The US says restrictions on imports are needed because of global overcapacity, something it largely blames on China. The EU is the world’s second-largest steel producer, after China, and employs around 320,000 people. China has already been hit with US tariffs and has responded with tariffs of its own against US imports.

The US has also imposed tariffs on other trading partners, including Japan.

Bloomberg news agency said Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, plans to introduce tariffs against US imports.

“We can’t accept this,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying. “From a security perspective, it’s very difficult to understand why this would be imposed on Japan, a military ally.”