U.S. Trading Partners Hit Back on Steel, Aluminum Tariffs – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs will likely balloon costs of producing goods from home appliances to automobiles and cans used for drinks, threatening to raise consumer prices down the road, experts told Agence France-Presse in a report republished by IndustryWeek.com.
Major U.S. trading partners announced countermeasures Wednesday (March 12) to President Donald Trump’s blanket steel and aluminum tariffs hours after the levies took effect in a salvo that fueled trade tensions globally.
The steep 25% levies came into place after midnight with no exemptions despite countries’ efforts to avert them, in an escalation of Trump’s fresh duties already imposed on Canada, Mexico and China since he returned to the White House.
The European Commission swiftly unveiled retaliation starting in April, while Canada announced additional tariffs on U.S. goods and China vowed “all necessary measures” in response — as Washington edged toward an all-out trade war with allies and competitors alike.
The European Commission will implement a series of countermeasures from April 1 in response to Washington’s “unjustified trade restrictions,” with chief Ursula von der Leyen saying the retaliation was “strong but proportionate.”
Canada, which is heavily exposed to the U.S. steel and aluminum levies, announced additional tariffs of $20.7 billion on U.S. goods, with the levies coming into force Thursday (March 13).
