The EU has announced it will impose trade “countermeasures” on up to €26bn worth of US goods in retaliation to Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, escalating a global trade war. France’s European affairs minister, Benjamin Haddad, said on Wednesday that the EU could “go further” in its response to the US tariffs. In 2019, Switzerland, one of the EU’s closest trading partners, complained when it was affected by EU restrictions on steel imports designed to protect EU industry. 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, called the Trump administration’s move “hugely disappointing”.

Source: The Guardian March 12, 2025 20:49 UTC