The European Union started enforcing tariffs Friday on $3.4 billion worth of US products, including American imports like motorcycles, orange juice, bourbon, peanut butter, cigarettes, and denim.
The United States imposed tariffs of 25 percent on EU steel and 10 percent on aluminum on June 1. EU trade officials have described the US tariffs on steel and aluminum as “illegal.”
“The trade that we believe in is built on rules, trust, reliable partnership. The United States decision to impose targets on Europe goes against that, in fact it goes against all logic and history,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday.
Friday, President Donald Trump responded to the new tariffs on Twitter:
Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
The initial wave of EU retaliatory tariffs is aimed at American goods worth €2.8 billion ($3.2 billion). If the trade dispute continues or is not resolved by the WTO, the European Union could target a second batch of American exports worth around €3.7 billion ($4.3 billion).
That list includes roughly 160 products such as US sunbeds, paper towels, corduroy pants and porcelain tableware.
European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said the EU’s response is proportionate and reasonable.
Daniel Gros, director for Economy and Finance at the Center for European Policy Studies, said that in a trade war everyone stands to lose, but the U.S. has put itself in a worse position.
“I think the United States is losing more because it has put tariffs on a very important input which very often it doesn’t produce itself,” he said. “The EU perhaps will find a few disgruntled consumers who have to pay more for their Harley Davidsons, but that is not a big loss for us.”
Source: kusi
