Flags of the European Union flutter in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on December 12, 2024, prior to the bank’s press conference on monetary policy in the eurozone. – Faced with a stuttering economy, political turbulence in the eurozone and the prospect of renewed trade tensions with the United States, the European Central Bank is set to cut interest rates again. It would be the ECB’s third straight reduction as it increasingly focuses on spurring lending to boost consumer spending and business investment in the 20 countries that use the euro. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
Brussels, Belgium — EU states vowed to protect Europe’s steel and aluminum industries against tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, after a virtual meeting Wednesday of the bloc’s trade ministers.
Trump raised hackles in Brussels after he decided earlier this week to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports of the metals starting March 12.
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The European Union vowed to retaliate firmly and hastily arranged a meeting of EU trade ministers by video link to discuss Trump’s move.
“Today’s meeting showed that member states are united in solidarity and determined to protect the European steel and aluminum sector against possible market destabilization,” Krzysztof Paszyk, Polish development and technology minister said in a statement.
Poland holds the rotating EU presidency until July.
The ministers did not, however, announce a decision on how to react.
The Polish minister noted the “strategic importance” of the EU-US partnership but said EU states would support the European Commission in “responding proportionally and responsibly when necessary”.
The commission is in charge of trade policy on behalf of EU states.
Paszyk suggested the EU still hoped to de-escalate the standoff, despite the promise of retaliation.
“We want to maintain the offer of positive cooperation with the US, so as to jointly remove barriers on the transatlantic market and foster economic security,” he said.
But EU states stressed that a previous deal with the United States over Trump’s 2018 steel and aluminium tariffs during his first 2017-2021 presidency had now been “effectively” cancelled.
The EU had agreed to suspend its countertariffs on US goods as part of a deal with Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and the deadline for them to come back into force is at the end of March.