Europe, Canada Strike Back with Tariffs on U.S. Goods

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Europe and Canada have announced tariffs on up to $24 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation to President Donald Trump's 25% tariff on European and Canadian steel and 10% tariff on aluminium.

The European Commission (EC) has announced that import duties of 25% on a wide range of U.S. exports will be introduced in July, ranging from whiskey and tobacco to motorcycles, clothing, steel and foodstuffs. It has the full backing of the European Union's (EU) 28 member states. The list has been sent to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), as its Safeguards Agreement allows for a rebalancing. The Commission said that the U.S. measures are damaging to EU exports worth 6.4 billion euro ($7.6 billion) and said that July's retaliatory tariffs will impact U.S. goods valued at up to 2.8 billion euro ($3.3 billion) in trade. The remaining rebalancing on trade valued at 3.6 billion euro ($4.3 billion) will take place at a later stage, in three years' time or after a positive finding in the WTO dispute settlement if that should come sooner.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that from July 1 Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on $16.6 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to Trump's metals tariffs. The goods hit range from steel and aluminium to pizza and toilet rolls. The U.S. states that will be hit hardest are Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Europe's Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said: "This is a measured and proportionate response to the unilateral and illegal decision taken by the United States to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports. What's more, the EU's reaction is fully in line with international trade law. We regret that the United States left us with no other option than to safeguard EU interests."

"The new duties start applying in July," European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told media. "It is a measured and proportionate response to the unilateral and illegal decision taken by the United States."

The U.S. has applied import duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium exports from Europe, which came into effect on June 1, following the failure of trade agreement talks. Industrial Info reported that the EU had already threatened trade sanctions against the U.S. tariffs. For additional information, see March 14, 2018, article - Europe Threatens Trade Sanctions Over U.S. Steel Tariffs.

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