President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker promised countermeasures as he slammed the US’s decision to put an end to the EU exemption on steel and aluminium tariffs, speaking at the New Pact for Europe conference in Brussels on Thursday.
“This is a bad day for the world trade,” Juncker said, as he immediately went on to point out the initiation of the EU’s retaliatory measures through the World Trade Organisation [WTO].
“It’s totally unacceptable that a country is imposing unilateral measures when it comes to world’s trade,” Juncker concluded as the audience broke into applause.
Washington has put tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, prompting this response from Brussels.