WELLINGTON: The European Union is ready to engage with the United States to solve a trade row triggered by its decision to impose tariffs on European metals, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Thursday.
Describing the US tariffs as “illegal” and contravening World Trade Organization rules, Malmstrom said there was no choice but to take retaliatory action to protect EU interests and jobs.
“We think it is ridiculous to consider the EU as a threat to US national security,” she told a seminar. “We are always open to talk with the US The whole EU is based on the idea that we talk.”
The European Union will begin charging import duties of 25 per cent on a range of US products on Friday, in response to US tariffs put on EU steel and aluminium early this month, Malmstrom said.
The United States, after imposing punitive tariffs on a number of its top trading partners, this week threatened China with further duties on $200 billion worth of trade, escalating a conflict that has already drawn retaliatory steps from around the world. — AFP
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