Donald Trump's trade war has expanded to cover the world, with 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US from yesterday, March 12, Sky News reports, quoted by FOCUS.
The tariffs were announced in mid-February as stock market investors welcomed Trump's "America First" plan, according to which only Mexico, Canada and China were initially subjected to pressure.
Although two rounds of tariffs on China were introduced, the 25% tariffs on some Canadian and most Mexican cross-border goods will be withdrawn at the earliest from April 2.
The tariffs, which The tariffs, which begin today, are designed to protect U.S. manufacturing and boost jobs by making foreign products less attractive.
According to the American leader, they threaten to make goods from cars to soft drink packaging unnecessarily expensive.
The European Union (EU) has announced that it will impose trade "countermeasures" of US goods worth up to €26bn (£22bn) in response to Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, escalating a global trade war, the Guardian reports.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the 25% US levies on global metal imports "unjustified trade restrictions" after they came into force at 4am GMT on Wednesday.
"We deeply regret this measure," von der Leyen said in a statement, announcing that "strong but proportionate" countermeasures would come into force from April 1.
'Tariffs are taxes, they are bad for business and even worse for consumers. They disrupt supply chains. They bring uncertainty to the economy,” she said.
The retaliatory measures include the reimposition by Brussels of tariffs on US goods including bourbon whiskey, jeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles that were introduced during Trump’s first term and later suspended after talks with his successor Joe Biden.
The tariffs, which target €4.5 billion worth of certain US goods, often from Republican states, will be lifted on April 1. The list was worth €6.3 billion in 2018 but has shrunk due to Brexit and falling US exports.
Separately, the commission is planning further retaliatory measures targeting €18 billion worth of goods, including a wide range of steel and aluminium products, as well as agricultural products such as poultry, beef, seafood and nuts. The tariffs will be imposed from mid-April after a vote by EU member states and consultations with industry in a bid to minimise damage to the European economy.
"We are trying to hit where it hurts", said a senior EU official, who said the bloc was targeting soybeans grown in Louisiana, the home state of US House Speaker Mike Johnson.
''We love soybeans, but we are happy to buy them from Brazil or Argentina or wherever else.''
Although the Commission said its measures would amount to €26 billion, EU officials later said they would likely target €22.5 billion of US goods, as some products were likely to be filtered out after talks with businesses and member states.
However, other steps are not ruled out. French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad said on Wednesday that the EU could “go further“ in its response to the U.S. tariffs. The measures “are proportionate”, Haddad told TF1 television. “If we get to a situation where we have to go further, digital services or intellectual property could be included,” he said.