EU-US TRADE WAR: Brussels warns it will RETALIATE if Trump approves national security plan
BRUSSELS today warned US President Donald Trump it will “retaliate” if he goes ahead with plans to increase tariffs on imported steel for national security reasons, sparking the prospect of a trans-Atlantic trade war.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Mon, Jun 26, 2017
European trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the bloc would “defend ourselves” against any negative trade action taken by the Republican tycoon and blasted his controversial proposals as “unjustifiable”.
Mr Trump has said that America’s reliance on imported steel, particularly from China which stands accused of illegal dumping, poses a national security threat as it makes the country’s vital infrastructure including its military vulnerable to foreign powers.
His critics have claimed that the national security argument is a smokescreen and that the President is actually trying to justify protectionist measures to fulfil his election campaign pledge to bring heavy manufacturing back to the US.
In April the billionaire tycoon, who won the contest with Hillary Clinton thanks to vital votes in the ‘rust belt’ industrial states, signed an executive order authorising an investigation into cheap steel imports, especially from China.
But any hike in tariffs resultant from that would also be likely to affect the EU, with Ms Malmstrom warning today the bloc would have to take action to mitigate the “very bad” consequences for European companies.
She told a press conference in Brussels: “If worst comes to worst and there will be a general inclusion of steel tariffs that would be very bad for Europe. The EU could be hit in the act of collateral damage.
“We’re a friend and ally of the US and we think we would by unjustifiably hit by this. We will have to see if that measure is in compliance with the WTO, of course, and if it hits us like it could we will retaliate.
“Exactly how and when I will not answer now but we will make preparations. Nobody can say that they have not been warned. We want to avoid anything dramatic here but if that were to hit our companies we would have to respond.”
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