The world is responding to Donald Trump’s new tariffs.
The 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminium came into effect at midnight ET “with no exceptions or exemptions”.
The European Commission responded almost immediately, saying it would impose counter tariffs on €26bn (£21.9bn) worth of US goods from next month.
“We deeply regret this measure,” the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement about the US tariffs, as Brussels announced it would be “launching a series of countermeasures” in response to the “unjustified trade restrictions”.
The European Commission said steel and aluminium products would be hit with tariffs in return, but also textiles, leather goods, home appliances, house tools plastics and wood. Agricultural products will also be affected — including poultry, beef, some seafood, nuts, eggs, sugar and vegetables.
Von der Leyen said: "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."
Trump's tariffs will have “hugely damaging consequences for UK suppliers and their customers in the US”, the UK’s industry group UK Steel warned. They will also have a further harmful indirect effect of deflecting steel trade from the US into markets such as the UK. Further reciprocal tariffs are expected to be announced by the US on 2 April.
The US is the UK’s second most important export market for steel after the EU, particularly as it is a high value market, UK Steel said. US exports account for 9% of UK steel exports by value and 7% by volume. This is mostly specialist steel that goes into areas such as defence, oil and gas, construction equipment and packaging.
This comes at a time of global overcapacity and oversupply, high energy costs, and weak demand, making the the blow to UK exports “all the more detrimental”.
The UK 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 made by the UK’s trade and business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds.
James Murray, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, 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 whether the imposition of retaliatory tariffs would remain 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."
The Australian deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said the lack of exemptions was “really disappointing”, calling tariffs “an act of kind of economic self-harm”. He told the radio station 2GB: “We’ll be able to find other markets for our steel and our aluminium and we have been diversifying those markets.”
The agenda
• 12.30pm GMT: US inflation for February (previous 3%, forecast 2.9%)
• 1.45pm GMT: Bank of Canada interest rate decision (forecast: cut to 2.75% from 3%)
We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day … |
