The European Union (EU) on Friday launched tariffs on some $3.2 billion worth of American goods, in retaliation for tariffs US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed on imported steel and aluminium earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The bloc slapped a 25 per cent tariff on American products such as whiskey, tobacco, Harley Davidson motorcycles, cranberries and peanut butter, reports The Independent.<\/p>\n
They also leveraged another 50 per cent tax on select items such as footwear, some types of clothing and washing machines.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Irish Parliament on Thursday night, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU would “do what we have to do to rebalance and safeguard” against the US tariffs.<\/p>\n
“It goes against all logic and history,” he said of the US taxes.<\/p>\n
“Our response must be clear but measured.”<\/p>\n
The statement echoed the words EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstr\u00f6m remarks on Wednesday that the 28-member bloc was “left with no other choice” than to impose retaliatory measures.<\/p>\n
The tariffs come weeks after the Trump administration implemented a 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent tariff on aluminium, affecting trade partners like Canada, Mexico, and the EU, The Independent reported.<\/p>\n
Trump threatened additional taxes on European cars if the EU chose to retaliate.<\/p>\n
The EU has also filed a case with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), claiming Trump’s tariffs were “pure protectionist” and “illegal”.<\/p>\n
They also threatened a second round of tariffs on some $4.3 billion worth of US products if the dispute was not resolved.<\/p>\n
Mexico has already announced its own tariffs on US goods, and Canada’s tariffs on nearly $13 billion of US products are set to take effect next month.<\/p>\n
Trump has also imposed tariffs on other trade partners as well, slapping a 25 per cent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Union (EU) on Friday launched tariffs on some $3.2 billion worth of American goods, in retaliation for tariffs US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed on imported steel and aluminium earlier this month. The bloc slapped a 25 per cent tariff on American products such as whiskey, tobacco, Harley Davidson motorcycles, cranberries and peanut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[173,171,172],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-eu-trade-commissioner-cecilia-malmstrom","tag-european-union","tag-us-president-donald-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n