EU demands from the US to exempt it from duties on steel and aluminum

The European Union needs to be exempted from the import duties on steel and aluminum that the United States of America imposed on Thursday, March 8. This was stated by the European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström.

"The European Union is a close ally of the United States and we still believe that the EU should not be subject to these measures," Malmström said late Thursday, quoted by AFP news agency. The representative of the European Commission said that in the coming days she will try to clarify this issue. On Saturday, March 10, she is scheduled to meet with the US Trade Representative in Brussels, Robert Lighthizer.

On March 8, Donald Trump officially announced that he would impose a 25 percent duty on steel imports and a 10 percent import duty on imported aluminum. These changes will take effect after 15 days.

The duties will temporarily not apply to Canada and Mexico, with which the United States continues to negotiate the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump also mentioned special conditions for Australia and some other countries, but what they will consist of is still unknown.

The President of the United States reserves the right to raise or lower tariffs at any time, and to waive or impose duties for individual countries.

The US decision on tariffs on steel and aluminum is heavily criticized by the EU and China. They promised to start countermeasures.

China, which produces about half of all steel and aluminum in the world, has also expressed "extreme concern" about America's plans. However, Moody's notes that direct steel exports from China to the United States accounted for only 1% of the country's total exports, or 0.1% of China's total steel production in the first nine months of 2017.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was the least embarrassed in his expressions, who called the US imposition of duties "idiocy."