Trump told reporters that the US trade deficit with Beijing was out of control at about $504bn. The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, welcomed the development in a tweet from a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. “A trade war would have damaged both sides,” he said. Trump has had few kind words to say about the EU, claiming it had made life difficult for US exporters. “Tariffs are set to divert millions of tonnes of steel away from the US towards other open markets,” he said.

Source: The Guardian March 22, 2018 16:04 UTC