{"id":57537,"date":"2018-03-23T16:35:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T11:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57537"},"modified":"2018-03-23T16:35:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T11:35:39","slug":"eu-seeks-permanent-tariff-exemption-from-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57537","title":{"rendered":"EU seeks permanent tariff exemption from US"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS March 23 (TNS):<\/strong> European Union leaders called on Friday for a temporary exemption from U.S. import duties on steel and aluminum to be made permanent, saying they reserved the right to respond \u201cin a proportionate manner\u201d to protect the bloc\u2019s interests.
\nThe 40-day exemption granted by Washington was like U.S. President Donald Trump \u201cputting a gun to our head\u201d, Belgium\u2019s prime minister complained. The EU\u2019s trade negotiator demanded that the United States drop \u201cartificial deadlines\u201d.
\nTrump said on Thursday he would suspend tariffs for the EU, the United States\u2019 biggest trading partner, as well as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. The tariffs are suspended until May 1 as discussions continue.
\nIn a joint statement, EU heads of state and government, meeting for a regular summit in Brussels, said the measures could not be justified on national security grounds \u2014 the basis cited by Washington.
\n\u201cThe European Council regrets the decision by the United States to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum,\u201d they said. \u201cSector-wide protection in the U.S. is an inappropriate remedy for the real problems of overcapacity.\u201d
\n\u201cThe European Council strongly supports the steps taken by the Commission to ensure that the interests of the EU are fully protected and to reserve its rights, in compliance with World Trade Organisation rules, to respond to the U.S. measures as appropriate and in a proportionate manner.\u201d
\nCecilia Malmstrom, the trade commissioner who negotiates on behalf of the 28 nations, said Europeans did not want to be penalised by actions prompted largely by accusations of Chinese dumping and said Washington and Brussels should be cooperating.
\n\u201cThe U.S. and EU should be tackling such issues together. We now look forward to pursuing a dialogue with the U.S. on trade issues of common concern, such as global steel overcapacity,\u201d she said on Twitter.
\n\u201cThese discussions between allies and partners should not be subject to artificial deadlines.\u201d
\nBritish Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters in Brussels that Europe would now work to see how a permanent exemption could be secured.
\nFrench and German officials welcomed Trump\u2019s decision to spare European industry.
\nThe exemption from tariffs followed Malmstrom\u2019s trip to Washington for talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
\nEurope says it wants to avert a trade war but on Friday its leaders warned Trump they would respond with counter-measures if the White House proceeded with higher barriers on U.S. metals in May.
\nThe European Commission has proposed that, if tariffs are eventually imposed, the bloc should challenge them at the World Trade Organization, consider measures to prevent metal flooding into Europe and impose import duties on U.S. products to \u201crebalance\u201d EU-U.S. trade.
\nThe Commission\u2019s Malmstrom said the EU was keeping its options open.
\nCountermeasures could include EU tariffs on U.S. oranges, tobacco and bourbon. Harley-Davidson Inc motorcycles have also been mentioned, targeting Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan\u2019s home state of Wisconsin.
\nAustrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the EU did not want a trade war but would respond \u201cfirmly\u201d if the president took \u201cthe wrong decision\u201d.
\nBelgian Prime Minister Charles Michel underlined the irritation among some EU leaders at Trump\u2019s negotiating tactics.
\n\u201cI have the impression that the U.S. leader wants to negotiate with the European Union by putting a gun to our head,\u201d Michel said as he arrived at the EU summit. \u201cThat\u2019s a strange way to negotiate with an ally.\u201d TNS\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS March 23 (TNS): European Union leaders called on Friday for a temporary exemption from U.S. import duties on steel and aluminum to be made permanent, saying they reserved the right to respond \u201cin a proportionate manner\u201d to protect the bloc\u2019s interests. The 40-day exemption granted by Washington was like U.S. President Donald Trump \u201cputting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57541,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57537\/revisions\/57541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}