EU vows swift riposte as Trump kicks off transatlantic trade war

It’s a bad day for world trade. US leaves us no choice but to proceed with a WTO dispute settlement case and the imposition of additional duties on a number of US imports. We will defend the EU’s interests, in full compliance with international trade law. https://t.co/J3wPW5Ew7K pic.twitter.com/aDlOWcSgRv

— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) May 31, 2018

In anticipation of the Trump decision, the EU already drew up a long list of counter-measures against the US, which would include equivalent duties on a whole range of products including cranberries, motorcycles and bourbon whiskey.

Europe exports around five billion euros ($4 billion) worth of steel and a billion euros worth of aluminium to the United States each year, and the commission estimates Trump’s tariffs will affect some 2.8 billion euros in business.

As a precautionary measure, the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, notified the World Trade Organization of eventual counter duties on May 18 that could come into force 30 days later.

The commission is now detailing those measures, but the final decision to greenlight the counter-measures falls to the EU’s 28 member states.

‘Europe united’

In France Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, junior minister of foreign affairs, said “France disapproves of these unjustified and unjustifiable measures.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pledged: “Our answer to ‘America First’ can only be ‘Europe united’”.

Juncker said that the EU would also launch a dispute settlement procedure against the United States at the WTO, a legal process that could take years.