US President Donald Trump promised to impose tariffs, claiming trade across the Atlantic was a one-way street. The EU had demanded a permanent exemption from the tariffs following a temporary one being granted in April, but the plea has been rejected by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had earlier met with Mr Ross in a last ditch attempt to prevent the tariffs being imposed, but they failed to come to an agreement. Among the concessions the Trump administration is seeking is an agreement on a quota that would limit European steel and aluminium exports to the US while also wanting the 10 percent auto tariff to be lowered, for which it would be ready to grant an exemption to the EU from the steel tariff. But EU leaders have immediately vowed to retaliate against the US, with the bloc ready to launch a case at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) where it will trigger a "dispute settlement" as it believes the US are breaking agreed international trade rules. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Maelstrom said: "The US has sought to use the threat of trade restrictions as leverage to obtain concessions from the EU.

“This is not the way we do business, and certainly not between longstanding partners, friends and allies. "Now that we have clarity, the EU's response will be proportionate and in accordance with WTO rules. "We will now trigger a dispute settlement case at the WTO, since these US. measures clearly go against agreed international rules. "We will also impose rebalancing measures and take any necessary steps to protect the EU market from trade diversion caused by these US restrictions." European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed his counterpart's vow and promised the EU will impose immediate counter balancing measures against the US.

Speaking in Brussels, he said: "This is a bad day for world trade, so we will immediately introduce a settlement dispute with the WTO and will announce counter balancing measures in the coming hours. "It is totally unacceptable that a country is imposing unilateral measures when it comes to world trade." Manfred Weber, the European Parliament centre-right leader and ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wrote on Twitter that the EU would also be reacting strongly. He said: "We will have no choice but to defend European industry, jobs and interests. "We will not accept this highly regrettable decision without reacting.”

Britain said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision from the US and claimed it should be permanently exempted from the tariff measures. A Government spokesman said: "We are deeply disappointed that the US has decided to apply tariffs to steel and aluminium imports from the EU on national security grounds. "The UK and other European Union countries are close allies of the US and should be permanently and fully exempted from the American measures on steel and aluminium." The CBI's international director Ben Digby called President Trump's measures "deeply concerning for firms in the UK, for close trading partners and across supply chains". He said: "There are no winners in a trade war, which will damage prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.

"These tariffs could lead to a protectionist domino effect, damaging firms, employees and consumers in the US, UK and many other trading partners." Labour spokeswoman on steel Gill furniss described the tariff announcement as "a catastrophic blow to the sector and steelworkers across the country", also hitting out at the way the situation has been handled by Prime Minister Theresa May and her Government. The Sheffield Brightside MP said: "Theresa May and her Government have approached the ongoing crisis with utter complacency and have proved too feeble to stand up to Trump when it was most needed. They have let our steelworkers down." UK Steel Director Gareth Stace claimed the new tariffs will cause "damage not only to the UK steel sector, but also the US economy".

He added: "President Trump had already loaded the gun today and we know that the US administration has unfortunately fired it and potentially started a damaging trade war. "With some half billion dollars of steel exported from the UK to US last year, UK steel producers are going to be hit hard." But in an interview with television network CNBC, the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was unfazed by any threats of retaliation from the EU. Speaking from Paris after announcing the US was proceeding with metals tariffs on the EU, he said any retaliation from European nations or any other countries are unlikely to have much impact on the US economy. He added there won’t be a long-term impact on relations with affected countries and that they “will get over this in due course”.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, has full confidence in the new Spanish government, a spokeswoman for the Commision told a daily press briefing on Friday.

“He has sent (Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez) a congratulatory letter stating his confidence in the Spanish government to continue to contribute in a constructive manner to a stronger, more united and fairer European Union,” the spokeswoman said.</s>PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and European Union could still negotiate a trade deal even if Washington imposes import tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.

EU leaders agreed earlier in May to open discussions about market access for U.S. products, but only if Washington grants the EU a permanent exemption from tariffs. The EU now has a temporary exemption, which expires on Friday.

“There can be negotiations with or without tariffs in place. There are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us. It’s not that we can’t talk just because there’s tariffs,” Ross told a panel at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The U.S. envoy said that China was a good case in point, having agreed to negotiate with the United States despite U.S. tariffs on certain Chinese exports going into effect in March.

“China has not used that as an excuse not to negotiate,” he said. “It’s only the EU that is insisting we can’t negotiate if there are tariffs.”

He did not say whether the United States goes ahead and slaps tariffs on EU metals. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Tuesday she expected some sort of U.S. measure to limit EU exports.

A French presidential adviser said “nothing very positive” had come out of recent efforts to stop the U.S. tariffs, adding: “If that’s the American decision, the European response will be firm,” mentioning counter-measures on selected U.S. products.

Ross, who was due to talk to Malmstrom later on Wednesday, said the EU had shown limited interest in serious trade negotiations with the United States until a threat of tariffs.

The 28-member bloc shelved talks towards an ambitious EU-U.S. trade deal known as TTIP after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in 2016.

Dutch Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag, on the same panel, said EU countries agreed that U.S. trade measures designed to protect national security simply should not apply to them and they did not feel they should negotiate, even if China did.

Kaag added that a 1962 trade law allowing protection for U.S. producers on national security grounds that Donald Trump has invoked belongs to a different era.

Ross also denied claims that U.S. tariffs would harm its own steel-consuming industries. The price of a can of soup would rise just a fraction of a cent and car prices would go up by less than 1 percent, he said.

“The sky has not fallen on the United States since we put the tariffs on. It hasn’t fallen and it won’t,” he said, adding that about 20 steel or aluminum facilities had opened or reopened since the tariffs were first announced.

Ross also took aim at the World Trade Organization, where Washington has blocked appointments to its appeals chamber, effectively engineering a crisis in the system of settling global disputes.

Any dispute mechanism that takes multiple years to settle cases is “no good”, he said, labeling a 14-year case over subsidies for aircraft Airbus “a joke”.

Talk of just tweaking the WTO, as EU countries have suggested, is wrong, he said.

“The problem is that people have begun in many multilateral organizations to substitute conversation for action. We don’t think just raising issues is adequate,” Ross said.</s>PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union could still discuss opening up their markets more even if Washington applied import tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.

EU leaders agreed earlier this month to offer the prospect of trade discussions with the United States, but only if Washington removes its threat to impose tariffs. The bloc has a temporary exemption from those tariffs, which expires on Friday.

"There can be negotiations with or without tariffs in place. There are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us. It's not that we can't talk just because there's tariffs," Ross told a panel at the OECD. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Michel Rose)</s>PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and European Union could still negotiate a trade deal even if Washington imposes import tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.

EU leaders agreed earlier in May to open discussions about market access for U.S. products, but only if Washington grants the EU a permanent exemption from tariffs. The EU now has a temporary exemption, which expires on Friday.

"There can be negotiations with or without tariffs in place. There are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us. It's not that we can't talk just because there's tariffs," Ross told a panel at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The U.S. envoy said that China was a good case in point, having agreed to negotiate with the United States despite U.S. tariffs on certain Chinese exports going into effect in March.

"China has not used that as an excuse not to negotiate," he said. "It's only the EU that is insisting we can't negotiate if there are tariffs."

He did not say whether the United States goes ahead and slaps tariffs on EU metals. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Tuesday she expected some sort of U.S. measure to limit EU exports.

A French presidential adviser said "nothing very positive" had come out of recent efforts to stop the U.S. tariffs, adding: "If that's the American decision, the European response will be firm," mentioning counter-measures on selected U.S. products.

Ross, who was due to talk to Malmstrom later on Wednesday, said the EU had shown limited interest in serious trade negotiations with the United States until a threat of tariffs.

The 28-member bloc shelved talks towards an ambitious EU-U.S. trade deal known as TTIP after Donald Trump's presidential election victory in 2016.

Dutch Trade Minister Sigrid Kaag, on the same panel, said EU countries agreed that U.S. trade measures designed to protect national security simply should not apply to them and they did not feel they should negotiate, even if China did.

Kaag added that a 1962 trade law allowing protection for U.S. producers on national security grounds that Donald Trump has invoked belongs to a different era.

Ross also denied claims that U.S. tariffs would harm its own steel-consuming industries. The price of a can of soup would rise just a fraction of a cent and car prices would go up by less than 1 percent, he said.

"The sky has not fallen on the United States since we put the tariffs on. It hasn't fallen and it won't," he said, adding that about 20 steel or aluminium facilities had opened or reopened since the tariffs were first announced.

Ross also took aim at the World Trade Organization, where Washington has blocked appointments to its appeals chamber, effectively engineering a crisis in the system of settling global disputes.

Any dispute mechanism that takes multiple years to settle cases is "no good", he said, labelling a 14-year case over subsidies for aircraft Airbus "a joke".

Talk of just tweaking the WTO, as EU countries have suggested, is wrong, he said.

"The problem is that people have begun in many multilateral organisations to substitute conversation for action. We don't think just raising issues is adequate," Ross said.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>
• The Trump administration started imposing tariffs on European, Canadian, and Mexican steel and aluminum on Friday morning.
• Canada called it an “affront”, the UK said it was “patently absurd”, and the French compared it to a cowboy shoot-out.

US allies have been responding furiously to the Trump administration’s decision to impose steep tariffs on their steel and aluminum exports as part of an escalating trade war.

Starting Friday, steel imports from those countries will be hit with a 25% tariff, while aluminum imports will be hit with a 10% tariff. Tariffs are essentially taxes on foreign goods coming into a country – (you can read more about how that works here).

The Trump administration’s move is meant to be a show of support to the US steel and aluminum industries from foreign producers that undercut domestic prices. The White House previously said that protecting those industries was a matter of national security, although many experts have questioned that justification.

Here’s how European nations, Canada, and Mexico, have reacted to Trump’s latest move.

UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox on Friday slammed the tariffs as a “patently absurd” move, and that UK government is considering counter-measures.

Barry Gardiner, a trade spokesman for the opposition Labour party, said: “We will not be cowed, we will not be bullied by the President. The President has said he believes he could win a trade war. We think a trade war is in nobody’s interests. It’s not in our interests, it’s not in the EU’s interests, and it’s not in the interest of American workers.”

The EU handles trade policy for its 28 member states, many of which also responded separately, including Brit ian, Germany, and France.

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has threatened to hit back at the US with EU tariffs on equal value, telling reporters on Thursday: “It’s totally unacceptable that a country is imposing unilateral measures when it comes to world trade.”

The EU previously released a list of US products that would be subject to tariffs in the event the metal restrictions went into effect. It included blue jeans, motorcycles, boats, bourbon whiskey, rice, playing cards, and steel.

France: This is like the OK Corral

Bruno Le Maire, France’s finance minister, echoed Juncker’s warnings by saying: “Our US friends must know that if they were to take aggressive actions against Europe, Europe would not be without reaction.”

Le Maire added: “World trade is not like the settling of accounts at the OK Corral,” referring to a 30-second shootout between a law-and-order gang and a group of cowboys in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the move as “totally unacceptable” and an “affront to the thousands of Canadians who have fought and died alongside their American brothers in arms.”

He also described the tariff impositions as “illegal and counterproductive” under NAFTA and WTO rules, and that Trump’s national security justification was “simply ridiculous.”

Trudeau added that Canada would impose “dollar for dollar tariffs” on US products, including steel and aluminum from July 1, which would remain in place until the US lifted its own tariffs. Other US consumer products that could be hit include maple syrup, pizza, and toilet paper.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that Canada’s retaliatory tariffs were “strongest action by Canada in the post-War era.”

Mexico: Let’s keep it in proportion.

Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo described the new landscape as a “clearly defined battlefield,” but not a trade war. He also vowed that the country would take revenge proportionally.

He told Mexican radio on Thursday, as cited by Reuters: “A trade war is when there is an escalation of conflict. In this case, it is simply a response to a first action.

“We should stick to the clearly defined battlefield, where the response is appropriate and proportional.”

In a separate statement on Thursday, the Mexican government also called Trump’s new tariffs “measures that affect and distort international commerce in goods,” and that they were “neither adequate nor justified,” according to The Hill.

It said it would “impose equivalent measures” on US goods including foil, lamps, pork legs and shoulders, apples, and cheese.

Germany: No insults, but trying to fix it.

The country’s economic minister, Peter Altmaier, said his country would stand with the EU and even work “more closely” with Mexico and Canada, who were also hit by the trade war.

Altmaier told German TV on Friday, according to Reuters: “We tried to do it through negotiation and we will now do it by standing together and formulating a common European answer, possibly working more closely with Mexico and Canada.”

What the US says

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who announced the tariffs, said on Thursday that there was “nothing weird” about the countries’ reactions, and that they “will get over that in due course.”</s>The European Union will impose counter measures after the United States decided to no longer exempt it from steel and aluminium tariffs, the head of the bloc's executive Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday.

The United States said it was moving ahead with tariffs on 

 aluminium and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the EU, 

 ending a two-month exemption and potentially setting the stage 

 for a trade war with some of America's top allies.

"This is a bad day for world trade," Juncker said in a speech in Brussels. "So we will immediately introduce a settlement dispute with the WTO and will announce counter balancing measures in the coming hours."

"It is totally unacceptable that a country is imposing unilateral measures when it comes to world trade."

Responding to the announcement, a spokesman for the UK government said: "We are deeply disappointed that the US has decided to apply tariffs to steel and aluminium imports from the EU on national security grounds.

"The UK and other European Union countries are close allies 

 of the US and should be permanently and fully exempted from 

 the American measures on steel and aluminium."</s>FILE PHOTO: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross prepares to testify before a Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee holds a hearing on the FY2019 funding request and budget justification for the Commerce Department on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Any retaliation by European nations or any other countries over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs are unlikely to have much impact on the American economy, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC in an interview on Thursday.

Ross, speaking from Paris after announcing that the United States was proceeding with metals tariffs on the European Union, Canada and Mexico, also said he believes there will not be a long-term impact on relations with affected countries and that they “will get over this in due course.”</s>PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union could still discuss opening up their markets more even if Washington applied import tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday.

EU leaders agreed earlier this month to offer the prospect of trade discussions with the United States, but only if Washington removes its threat to impose tariffs. The bloc has a temporary exemption from those tariffs, which expires on Friday.

“There can be negotiations with or without tariffs in place. There are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us. It’s not that we can’t talk just because there’s tariffs,” Ross told a panel at the OECD.</s>One of the European Commission’s team passed him a note as he praised self-acclaimed good work as the EU’s most senior official. Interrupting his speech, Mr Juncker told the audience the note “proves just how serious my job is” and brushed off the news as “expected”. He remained calm but this comes as a huge blow to Brussels, who have already had diplomats warning European firms to “prepare for the worst” as negotiators struggled to reach an agreement with their American counterparts. The Commission President has vowed to hit back at Mr Trump’s trade tariff as he signalled the start of a trade war between Brussels and Washington with retaliatory tariffs within hours.

He said: “This is a bad day for world trade. “What they can do, we’re able to do exactly the same.” In a seperate statement, Mr Juncker said: “I am concerned by this decision. The EU believes these unilateral US tariffs are unjustified and at odds with World Trade Organisation rules. “This is protectionism, pure and simple. Over the past months we have continuously engaged with the US at all possible levels to jointly address the problem of overcapacity in the steel sector. Overcapacity remains at the heart of the problem and the EU is not the source of but on the contrary equally hurt by it. “That is why we are determined to work towards structural solutions together with our partners. We have also consistently indicated our openness to discussing ways to improve bilateral trade relations with the US but have made it clear that the EU will not negotiate under threat."

The UK Government has puts its special relationship with the US on the line and vowed to side with Brussels in a bid to reinstate the tariff exempton. A Government spokesman said: "We are deeply disappointed that the US has decided to apply tariffs to steel and aluminium imports from the EU on national security grounds. "The UK and other European Union countries are close allies of the US and should be permanently and fully exempted from the American measures on steel and aluminium. “We have made clear to the US Government at the highest levels the importance of UK steel and aluminium to its businesses and defence projects. "We will continue to work closely with the EU and US Administration to achieve a permanent exemption, and to ensure that UK workers are protected and safeguarded.”

In March, the US President imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminium on steel exports into the United States as he vowed to protect his country’s ailing industries. However, after early negotiations the EU was able to negotiate a temporary exemption until June 1. Igniting a trade war between Brussels and Washington, Mr Trump has ignored EU pleas and threats for the exemption to be made permanent. The US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters trade tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminium will be enforced as of June 1. In recent days, the EU’s trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has remained pessimistic about possibility of striking a deal with her American counterpart. Even if she had, it was widely believed Mr Trump would ignore his trade envoy. The EU backlash has already started with the bloc promising to retaliate with its own tariffs which would strike at the heart of American popular culture. Products could include Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi jeans and bourbon whiskey. However, French President Emmanuel Macron, on Wednesday, warned against the dangers of starting a trade war. He said: “Unilateral responses and threats over trade war will solve nothing of the serious imbalances in the world trade. Nothing. “These solutions might bring symbolic satisfaction in the short term. One can think about making voters happy by saying: I have a victory, I’ll change the rules, you’ll see.”
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker vows "counterbalancing measures" from the EU soon. The EU is expected to respond with tariffs on a little more than US$3 billion worth of American goods including motorcycles, bourbon, and blue jeans. Juncker also says that the EU will proceed with a case against the US in the World Trade Organization. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross replies that the EU measures are "unlikely" to have much impact on the US economy.