There is no discuss with why the European Union should suffer from a trade war between the Joint States and China, France’s finance minister said Saturday, with Europe zeal for full exemption from new U.S. tariffs set to take effect next week.
In Trek, the U.S. slapped tariffs against steel and aluminum products, drawing retaliation from China and bring up eyebrows in Europe. The resulting backlash has triggered fears of a global clientele war.
However, Europe has been pushing for a definitive carve-out from the superior duties. The 28 members of the E.U. argue they are not the cause of the overcapacity in the metal industriousness, and have managed to get a temporary exemption. Other U.S. allies, including Japan didn’t.
Those stopgap exemptions are set to expire on May 1, but the U.S. is reportedly looking to extend the deadline.
“There is no senses why the EU should be hit by new tariffs on trade from the [Trump] administration. We are not responsible for the overcapacity in protect and aluminium,” Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, told lady of the presses in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“We do recognize there is a difficulty and we are ready to address that proclaim with our American allies, but we cannot negotiate under the pressure, and we don’t demand to be collateral damage between a trade war between the United States and China,” Le Maire combined.
The decision to impose duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum could injure not only those industries directly, but also carmakers and construction firms in Europe, which use those raw textiles.
Before President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. was negotiating a career deal with the European Union, but those talks have been catalogued. Trump has been generally opposed to free trade agreements, denoting they don’t favor American workers.
When asked whether Europe was acquiescent to continue those trade talks with the U.S., even if for a less zealous trade package than the original, France’s Le Maire said: “We don’t scantiness to enter into a global trade negotiation with the United Maintains.”
France doesn’t see the need to enter into a trade round with the U.S., Le Mair said, summing that French President Emmanuel Macron — who met with Trump this week in Washington — “has been terribly clear with President Trump during the state visit…At the outset of all we are waiting for an exemption for the EU from the American tariffs.”
–Reuters contributed to this article.