White House defends tariff increment on steel and aluminum imports

Brussels, June 7: The White House has defended Trump administration's move to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, saying these are defensive measures and are not aimed at any individual country.

 

US President Donald Trump brought in tariffs of 25 percent on EU steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminium on June 1, citing "national security" interests.

White House Director of National Trade Council Peter Navarro told in an interview to a private channel, these tariffs are not aimed at any individual country, whether it is a strategic rival like China or an ally and friend like Canada.

"We have steel and aluminum tariffs that went into place for one simple reason. As President Trump has said, without steel and aluminum industries in this country, we don't have a country. And so, the challenge we faced from a policy point of view is how do you do that?" he said.

On the other side, The European Commission had said it will respond with countermeasures to the US decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the bloc.

Commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement that the unilateral US tariffs are unjustified and at odds with WTO rules. He said the US action leaves the European Union (EU) with no choice but to proceed with a case in the WTO and implement tariffs on imports from the US.