Yesterday, Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economy and finance, said that the European Union has an "arsenal of weapons" to respond to the US President Donald Trump's threats to impose heavy tariffs on importation of steel and aluminum.
According to "French", the European Commissioner, Moscovici, was asked about the risks of a trade war after Trump announced his desire to impose heavy duties on imports of steel and aluminum, and he stated to PFM TV and radio Monte Carlo, "If these measures are proven, then we have a complete arsenal of weapons."
The European measures include a large number of elements, as the first procedures provided by the Commission on "countermeasures related to concessions agreed upon products, including orange and the US tobacco."
Moscovici added that the goal is to reach "products manufactured in the circles" controlled by Republicans (Donald Trump's party), especially those associated with House Speaker Paul Ryan. This is in order to force Congress to understand that this is a loss for all. He also referred to "the rescue measures" to avoid dumping the European market with quantities of steel that cannot be discharged in the United States.
"The European Commission also reserves the right to transfer potential differences to the World Trade Organization. We must not accept that; each party should be interested only in its interests in the world and we must maintain multilateralism," Moscovici said. He emphasized, "Protectionism is not the answer at all; protectionism is a nationalism. It is a war, a war that only leads to losers."
Jyrki Katainen, the vice President of the European Commission, stated that Brussels hopes to obtain exemption from US import duties planned. He expressed his belief that the exemption of one of the Union countries will affect the Union as a whole.
Jyrki Katainen talked in a press conference in Brussels and said, "We are anxiously waiting for the final result. One can say that it is good news, somewhat, that there are opportunities to avoid damage." He added that the EU was still trying to convince the United States that the fees are a bad idea. "We do not need to go back to the 1930s," he said, "it was enough to remember what happened in the first decade of the current millennium when the US authorities imposed tariffs on steel imports from Europe. The practical result was that thousands of people lost their jobs in the United States. "
The White House has said that Trump may issue temporary exemptions on steel and aluminum tariffs for Canada, Mexico, and a number of other countries. Trump, on Twitter, promised flexibly to the "true friends" of the United States.
"We have to protect and build our steel and aluminum industries with great flexibility and cooperation with our real friends that treat us fairly in trade and defense," Trump wrote in a tweet.
As a result of that, China warned that everyone would be harmed if Trump launched a trade war against possible countermeasures. While, official figures show the Asian giant has maintained a strong trade surplus with the United States. Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said that his country would adopt "certainly an appropriate and necessary response" if the United States imposed trade measures against it. During a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the parliament, he added, "in the era of globalization, those who resort to a trade war are choosing the wrong treatment because most of what they do is that they punish themselves."
"The lessons of history have taught us that trade wars are never the best solution to a problem, and that China will certainly adopt an appropriate and necessary response," Wang Yi said.
