ALJAZEERA
United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminium imports have taken effect and are set to escalate tensions with US trading partners.
The 25 percent tariffs on all imports of the metals into the US came into effect on Wednesday as governments and markets around the world reeled from a dizzying series of back-and-forth announcements on trade made by Trump in recent days.
The move drew swift retaliation from Canada and the European Union.
Canada, the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminium to the US, announced 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on goods including steel, aluminium, computers, sports equipment and other products worth 29.8 billion Canadian dollars (US$20.7bn) in total.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU charged with coordinating trade matters, said it would impose counter tariffs on up to 26 billion euros (US$28bn) of US goods – often with more symbolic than economic impact – from next month.
Nevertheless, commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters she had tasked Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic to resume talks with US officials on the matter.
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