BancaMarch | The European Union promised to retaliate if the United States imposes tariffs on steel and aluminium on the EU bloc. The President of the European Commission stated that the unjustified tariffs will trigger ‘firm and proportionate responses’, without giving further details.
In 2018, Trump tariffed steel and aluminium on some $7 billion in European imports. The EU bloc reacted with tariffs on a list of US products, including whisky, steel, iron, aluminium and agricultural products. During Biden’s term of office, negotiations bore fruit and these restrictions, due to expire in March this year, were stopped. An agile option would be to reactivate these tariffs by simply not extending them. The trade ministers of the EU member states will meet on Wednesday to discuss the next steps.
