US to impose new trade tariffs, EU, Mexico pledge to retaliate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies.

Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the tariffs would be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium, and go into effect on Friday, as the administration followed through on the penalties after earlier granting exemptions to buy time for negotiations.

President Donald Trump had announced the tariffs in March, citing national security concerns.

The European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Trump’s decision amounted to trade protectionism and that Europe would respond with countermeasures.

“This is protectionism, pure and simple,” Juncker said.

Mexico said it would penalise U.S. imports including pork bellies, apples, grapes, cheeses and flat steel.

The tariffs directed at some of the U.S.’s most ardent allies represented the latest move in Trump’s “America First” agenda that has roiled financial markets and raised the specter of a trade war involving the U.S., China and some of the globe’s most dominant economies.

The trade actions have opened the U.S. to criticism that it’s burning bridges at a time when Trump is seeking to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons and help stabilise the Middle East.

“We are alienating all of our friends and partners at a time when we could really use their support,” said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Ross told reporters that talks with Canada and Mexico over revising the North American Free Trade Agreement were “taking longer than we had hoped.”

Talks with Europe had “made some progress” but not enough for additional exemptions, he said in a conference call from Paris.

“We continue to be quite willing and indeed eager to have further discussions,” Ross said. He said he planned to travel to China on Friday for trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies.

European officials had braced for the tariffs and the EU has threatened to retaliate against U.S. orange juice, peanut butter and other goods in return. In terms of the NAFTA talks, the tariffs could hinder the negotiations among the North American neighbours.

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