At the end of last week, US President Donald Trump threatened to tax steel imports from the EU, accusing the EU bloc of being "very protectionist".
"We have things that we can hardly sell to the EU. They are very protectionist, and we are not", he told journalists on his plane to Paris – to where he was travelling to take part in the Bastille Day festivities of 14 July alongside France's President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump indicated that he would be ready to punish the EU and its economic powerhouse, Germany, by adopting taxes on dozens of products if Europe refuses to open up its market to hormone-injected beef, British newspaper the Daily Express reports.
The US president also highlighted that steel dumping from China, as well as other countries, is a "big problem" that "is destroying" the US steel industry.
"They're dumping steel and destroying our steel industry. They've been doing it for decades, and I'm stopping it. It'll stop. There are two ways: quotas and tariffs. Maybe I'll do both", he warned.
In June, the US Department of Commerce was due to publish the results of a special investigation into US imports of steel that was entrusted to it by Trump. This invoked the clause of a trade law dating back to 1962, which gives full powers to the US administration in the face of Congress and authorises it to restrict imports that could endanger the country's security. The file was delayed due to domestic consultations within the US, but also due to discussions between Washington and its trade partners.
The EU has already warned that it would not rule out retaliation measures should US customs duties be put on European steel.
"If the US imposes anti-dumping duties it will be very serious for Europe. We will be hard hit and unjustifiably. The conformity of these measures will have to be checked with the rules of the WTO. We will plan retaliation measures (...) We understand the USA's concerns, given the overcapacity of steel in China. But this would not be the right way to address this difficulty", European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said on 26 June. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)