Additional duties are to be imposed on a range of products from the USA after European Commissioners endorsed a decision to retaliate against the recent tariffs applied by the USA on imports of steel and aluminium from the EU.
Commissioners agreed that selected imports from the USA should be subject to additional duties, which are expected to apply from July.
The additional duties range from 10% to 50% and cover a wide range of items, including: playing cards (10%); cranberry juice (25%); cast steel tubes or pipe fittings (also 25%); paper hand towels (35%) and cordless infrared remote control devices for video game consoles (50%).
The full list of products concerned and the duties which will apply to them can be found at trade.ec.europa.eu.
In total, the theoretical additional duty collected will amount to $1.6 billion the Commission calculates which is far below the estimated €6.4 billion impact that the US measures will have on EU exports.
The EU is therefore reserving the right to impose further measures at a later stage (either in three years’ time or after a positive finding in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement procedure if that is made sooner).
Characterising the decision as “a measured and proportionate response to the unilateral and illegal decision taken by the United States”, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström confirmed that the EU’s action is fully in line with international trade law.
The imposition of rebalancing duties is part of what the Commission describes as a three-pronged response to the US action, with the other two elements being the launch of legal proceedings against the USA in the WTO and the possible triggering of safeguard action to protect the EU market from disruptions caused by the diversion of steel from the US market.
