E.U. Pledges to Fight Back on Trump Tariffs as Trade War Looms
If the American tariffs are put in place, Ms. Malmstrom said, Brussels could take three steps: It could take the case to the World Trade Organization, add safeguards to protect the European Union against steel diverted from the United States,
and impose tariffs on a series of American-made goods.
By MILAN SCHREUERMARCH 7, 2018
BRUSSELS — European Union officials unveiled an array of tariffs on Wednesday
that they would place on American-made goods if the United States followed through on President Trump’s plan to impose penalties on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a trade war.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump singled out the European Union, which he said had "not treated us very well, and it’s been a very, very unfair trade situation." The president warned
that the United States would also consider raising its tariffs on cars made within the bloc if the European Union were to retaliate.
The United States is the world’s largest importer of steel,
and while many of Mr. Trump’s arguments have focused on cheap steel from countries like China, the European Union as a whole is the single biggest exporter of steel to the United States.
European leaders were quick to stress that they did not want to trigger a wider trade dispute, with Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, saying in a tweet
that trade wars were "bad and easy to lose," a reference to an earlier tweet by Mr. Trump in which he claimed they were "good and easy to win."
President Trump said: ‘trade wars are good and easy to win’.
Cecilia Malmstrom said that put thousands of European jobs in jeopardy, and it has to be me