The EU has announced it will impose trade “countermeasures” on €26bn (£22bn) worth of US goods, in retaliation to Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, escalating a global trade war.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called the 25% levy on metals entering the US “unjustified trade restrictions”, after they came into force at 4am GMT on Wednesday.
“We deeply regret this measure,” von der Leyen said in a statement, as Brussels announced it would be “launching a series of countermeasures” on 1 April.
“The European Union must act to protect consumers and business,” she added.
The commission said it would be targeting industrial products in response, including steel and aluminium, as well as household tools, plastics and wooden goods.
In addition, the EU measures will affect some US agricultural products, including poultry, beef, some seafood, nuts, eggs, dairy, sugar and vegetables, provided they are approved by EU countries.
The retaliatory measures will result in Brussels reimposing tariffs on US goods including bourbon whiskey, jeans and Harley-Davidson motorbikes, which it introduced during the first Trump term.
“We will always remain open to negotiation. We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” von der Leyen said.
France’s European affairs minister Benjamin Haddad said on Wednesday that the EU could “go further” in its response to the US tariffs. The measures “are proportionate”, Haddad told TF1 television.
“If it came to a situation where we had to go further, digital services or intellectual property could be included,” he said.
The UK will seek a “pragmatic” approach in response to the US tariffs but is going to “reserve our right to retaliate”, according to a Treasury minister.
The exchequer secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, said: “We’re not going to retaliate immediately in that way.”
He said the tariffs were disappointing but “we want to take a pragmatic approach, and we’re already negotiating rapidly toward an economic agreement with the US, with the potential to eliminate additional tariffs”.
Asked if retaliatory measures remained on the table, Murray told Times Radio: “We reserve our right to retaliate, but we’re very clear that we want a pragmatic approach, working closely and productively with the US.”
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It came after the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Tuesday that Britain would not respond with its own counter-tariffs, after last-ditch efforts to persuade Trump to spare British industry from his global tariffs appeared to have failed.
The UK steel industry warned that Trump’s tariffs “couldn’t come at a worse time”, and said the move would have “hugely damaging consequences for UK suppliers and their customers in the US”.
Gareth Stace, the director general of the trade association UK Steel, branded the Trump administration’s move “hugely disappointing”.
He said: “President Trump must surely recognise that the UK is an ally, not a foe. Our steel sector is not a threat to the US but a partner to key customers, sharing the same values and objectives in addressing global overcapacity and tackling unfair trade.
“These tariffs couldn’t come at a worse time for the UK steel industry, as we battle with high energy costs and subdued demand at home, against an oversupplied and increasingly protectionist global landscape.”
The introduction of EU measures came after a day of drama on Tuesday, when Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium in response to Canadian threats to increase electricity prices for US customers.
The US president backed off from those plans after the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, agreed to suspend his province’s decision to impose a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the states of Minnesota, Michigan and New York.
