The European Union’s countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs must comply with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Swedish Minister of Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa stated.
This may allow the EU to take limited countermeasures.
Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent import tariffs on cars, semiconductors, steel, and aluminium entering the United States. The European Commission responded by saying it would take countermeasures if necessary.
The EU has drawn up lists of American products that could be subject to import duties if Trump actually imposes them.
Dousa said in an interview with Bloomberg news agency that there is a “broad consensus among EU member states and the European Commission that the WTO is essentially important to preserve. “