The European Commission said on Monday that it would react to protect the EU's interests after US President Donald Trump announced future duties on metals, but said it would not respond until it received clarification on the measures, UNN reports citing a European Commission statement.
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Trump said on Sunday that he would impose new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the US, another major step in his trade policy overhaul.
The European Commission has stated that it has not received any official notification of additional duties on EU goods.
At this stage, we have not received any official notification regarding the introduction of additional duties on EU goods. We will not respond to general statements without details or written explanations. The EU sees no justification for imposing duties on its exports. We will respond to protect the interests of European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified measures
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If confirmed, Trump's move, according to Reuters, would be a repeat of his actions during his first term, when he imposed 25% tariffs on steel from many countries and 10% tariffs on aluminum. For the EU, this covered 6.4 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in exports.
In response, the EU imposed duties on 2.8 billion euros worth of American goods in 2018, including bourbon and Harley Davidson motorcycles. It planned to add another €3.6 billion worth of US goods over three years.
At the time, Joe Biden was the US president, and both sides agreed to suspend US tariffs and EU countermeasures, the former by the end of this year, the latter by March 31.
The United States' suspension of duties amounted to a quota of 3.3 million metric tons of steel and 384,000 tons of aluminum from EU producers, based on historical averages.
EU diplomats have said it would be wiser to re-apply countermeasures if Trump continues to impose import duties.