EU hits back at US with counter-tariffs

Even as US President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, the European Union (EU) hit back with tariffs on American goods like peanuts, soybeans, whiskey, beef, poultry, and wood products. The EU is not calling the counter-measures as retaliatory tariffs, but describing them as “rebalancing measures”.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers. These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy.”

President Trump has stuck to his belief that by raising tariffs on imports he will bring back manufacturing units to America, and this will help in creating jobs. But there is no prospect of this happening. Von der Leyen said, “As the US are applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros.”