The European Parliament speaks out against a trade war with the US

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The political groups of the European Parliament consider that the EU should not launch into a trade war, but should defend its citizens. This is how MEPs have spoken about the tariff increase announced by Washington.

MEPs describe as unjustified the Trump government's measures to  impose new tariffs on steel and aluminum citing national security reasons. In this sense, the groups were in favor of negotiating a solution with the objective of eliminating excess capacity in the steel market, as well as putting a stop to the dumping promoted by some countries.

In the debate it was proposed that, if the dialogue does not bear fruit, the Commission take firm but proportionate measures in order to respect international trade regulations, as pointed out by the Valencian MEP  Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero during her speech.

Another proposal was to urge the EU to unite with other countries affected by the measure and fight against protectionism, although some MEPs considered it legitimate for Trump to protect US metal workers through this measure.

The vice president of the Commission, Jyri Katainen,  expressed his confidence that the EU will be excluded from the increase in tariffs, taking into account that its exports do not harm the North American metallurgical industry. He added that talks have already begun with the United States to reduce excess capacity.




Finally, the European head of Trade, Cecilia Malmström , assured that the EU does not want an escalation, nor does it share the opinion that trade wars are easy to win. But if European exports are not left out of US restrictions, there will be “ a firm but proportionate response ”.

Three courses of action
However, according to the latest report published by the Valencia Chamber of Commerce , the European Union could be considering three courses of action. The first would be to take the US to the WTO dispute resolution tribunal . Second, the EU could impose compensatory tariffs on certain US products.

The third and last would consist of establishing temporary tariffs on steel and aluminum entering the European Union, to prevent the diversion of trade in said products from China and reduce their impact on national production, especially in Germany and Italy.