European Commission says it will impose counter-tariffs on US goods from April
European steel companies have been bracing for losses.
“It will further worsen the situation of the European steel industry, exacerbating an already dire market environment,” Henrik Adam, president of the Eurofer European steel association, said last month.
He said the EU could lose up to 3.7m tons of steel exports. The United States is the second biggest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the total EU steel exports.
“Losing a significant part of these exports cannot be compensated by EU exports to other markets,” Adam said.
The UK is reserves its right to retaliate but will adopt a “pragmatic” approach in response to global tariffs imposed by the US, a Treasury minister said, echoing the comments (verbatim) made by the UK’s trade and business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds.
We’re not going to retaliate immediately in that way.
We reserve our right to retaliate, but we’re very clear that we want a pragmatic approach, working closely and productively with the US.