The EU reacted swiftly to U.S. tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel and aluminium with a series of countermeasures to protect European businesses from the impact of the U.S.’s ‘unjustified trade restrictions’.
Expressing regret for at the U.S. action, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that tariffs are taxes, and “are bad for business, and worse for consumers. They are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy.”
The EU had to act to “protect consumers and business”. She said the EU’s countermeasures were strong but proportionate. “As the United States are applying tariffs worth USD 28 billion, we are responding with countermeasures worth EUR 26 billion. This matches the economic scope of the tariffs from the United States.”
Based on current import flows, this will result in US importers having to pay up to €6 billion in additional import tariffs.
The EU stresses that it is open to negotiations. The countermeasures are to be introduced in two steps, starting with 1 April and fully in place as of 13 April.
As of April, the EU will automatically reinstate currently suspended ‘rebalancing’ measures from 2018 and 2020, which effectively targeted EUR 4.5 billion-worth of US goods exported to the EU. These were imposed in response to the first Trump Administration’s introduction of tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports.
The Commission says it will in addition take decisive steps towards a package of additional countermeasures which will apply to EUR 18 billion of US exports to the EU.
EU countermeasures on US steel and aluminium tariffs explained
