BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is concerned that time is running out for the United States to remove tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on steel and aluminium, a senior EU trade official said on Thursday.
Citing U.S. national security grounds the Trump administration in 2018 imposed tariffs of 25% on EU steel and 10% on aluminium – measures that steelmakers such as Thyssenkrupp and Voestalpine have said they were affected by.
The EU denied its exports pose any security threat and responded by placing its own tariffs on 2.8 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of U.S. products, including motorbikes, whisky and orange juice.
“I’m very worried that we are running out of time,” said Sabine Weyand, director-general of the trade section of the European Commission. “We had suggested and are suggesting still that we would also suspend tariffs for a period of six months to give us time to sort out the issues.”
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