Donald Trump said Monday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will soon talk to the European Union about import tariffs that the president argues have been unfair to the United States.
Ross ‘will be speaking with representatives of the European Union about eliminating the large Tariffs and Barriers they use against the U.S.A.,’ Trump tweeted.
‘Not fair to our farmers and manufacturers.’
The president announced last week that the United States would impose heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, with Canada, Mexico and potentially other countries exempted.
President Donald Trump tweeted on Monday that the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, will soon speak to the European Union about trade imbalances and tariffs on steel
Trump said non-reciprocal import tariffs on American goods going into Europe are ‘not fair to our farmers and manufacturers’
Ross (right) doesn’t have any set meetings scheduled yet, according to the European Commission
Amid fears of a global trade war, the European Union is among those seeking loopholes.
Over the weekend, Trump argued that the U.S. has been abused economically by the EU, saying they were ‘wonderful countries who treat the U.S. very badly on trade.’
‘If they drop their horrific barriers & tariffs on U.S. products going in, we will likewise drop ours,’ he pledged in a tweet.
Ross’s meeting with the EU notwithstanding, the European Commission said no formal talks were scheduled with the U.S. to address the steel and aluminum tariffs that go into effect on March 23.
‘No meetings as such are planned at the moment between U.S. and EU authorities,’ an EC spokesman told reporters during a regularly scheduled news conference.
‘But we expect contacts to take place at several levels during the week.’
The EU and Japan urged the United States on Saturday to grant them exemptions from metal import tariffs, with Tokyo calling for ‘calm-headed behavior.’
Trump signed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports on Thursday.
European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstroem, right, speaks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Saturday in Brussels, where the EU is seeking clarity about whether the 28-nation bloc will be exempt from the new steel and aluminum tariffs
Germany is the only EU nation that ranks in the top 10 sources of U.S. steel imports, coming in in ninth place, according to IHS Global Trade Atlas data cited by CNBC for the first nine months of 2017. Canada ranks first and Mexico fourth, the data showed.
But taken as a trading bloc, Europe is the biggest exporter of steel to the United States, accounting for nearly 5 million tons out of 35 million.
Brussels has warned Trump that it will impose countermeasures if he forces them to pay his new tariffs.
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that EC nations ‘have been building a global trading system for decades.’
‘European prosperity and millions of jobs depend on it – and Europe will not stand idly by if someone puts the order of free world trade at risk.’