EU warns of tough steps against Trump's steel, aluminium tariffs
The European Commission said on Saturday that Europe was prepared to retaliate against President Donald Trump's plan to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, raising the prospect of an escalating trade fight between two of the world's largest economic powers.
Trump's announcement on Friday that he would increase tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50% from 25%, intensifies his global trade war and came just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement with the U.S. to mutually roll back levies and trade restrictions for critical minerals.
The European Commission said it 'strongly' regrets Trump's plan to increase tariffs, adding it 'undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution.'
'This decision adds further uncertainty to the global economy and increases costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,' a European Commission spokesperson said, adding that 'the (European Union) is prepared to impose countermeasures.'
The spokesperson noted that the European Union had paused its countermeasures to create space for continued negotiations.
'The European Commission is currently finalising consultations on expanded countermeasures. If no mutually acceptable solution is reached, both existing and additional EU measures will automatically take effect on 14 July — or earlier, if circumstances require,' the spokesperson added.
Trump announced the higher tariffs just outside Pittsburgh, where he was talking up an agreement between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. Trump said the $14.9 billion deal, like the tariff increase, will help keep jobs for steel workers in the U.S.
He later posted on social media that the increased tariff would also apply to aluminum products and that it would take effect on Wednesday.
The planned U.S. move ratchets up pressure on global steel producers, and has sparked protests from trading partners around the world.
Canada's Chamber of Commerce quickly denounced the tariff hike as 'antithetical to North American economic security.'
'Unwinding the efficient, competitive and reliable cross-border supply chains like we have in steel and aluminum comes at a great cost to both countries,' Candace Laing, president of the chamber, said in a statement.
Canada's United Steelworkers union on Saturday called the move a direct attack on Canadian industries and workers.
Australia's centre-left government also condemned the tariff increase, with Trade Minister Don Farrell calling it 'unjustified and not the act of a friend.'
The U.S. is the world's largest steel importer, excluding the European Union, with a total of 26.2 million tons of imported steel in 2024, according to the Department of Commerce. As a result, the new tariffs will likely increase steel prices across the board, hitting industry and consumers alike.
Steel and aluminum tariffs were among the earliest put into effect by Trump when he returned to office in January. The tariffs of 25% on most steel and aluminum imported to the U.S. went into effect in March, and he had briefly threatened a 50% levy on Canadian steel but ultimately backed off.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
37 minutes ago
- NDTV
"We Have Enormous Respect But...": Shashi Tharoor On Trump's India-Pak Ceasefire Claim
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor stated India does not seek war with Pakistan, refuting Donald Trump's claim of facilitating a ceasefire. He emphasized India's focus on development and clarified that it was Pakistan needing persuasion to stop hostilities, not India. New Delhi: Days after US President Donald Trump repeated his claim that he stopped India and Pakistan from fighting, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said that India doesn't "need to be persuaded" as it doesn't want a war. India has repeatedly denied claims that President Trump played a key role in facilitating the India-Pakistan ceasefire on May 10, which came after four days of intense cross-border fighting. Mr Tharoor, who is leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to the US to highlight India's policy of zero-tolerance to terrorism, stated that India had "consistently" said from the very beginning on May 7 - when the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor to avenge the terror attack in Pahalgam - that it is "not interested in prolonging the conflict". "We have enormous respect for the American presidency, and we will speak with that respect in mind. But broadly speaking, our understanding is a bit different. We had consistently said from the very beginning on May 7 that we are not interested in prolonging the conflict. This is not the opening salvo in some sort of war. All it is is retribution against the terrorists, period. If Pakistan had not reacted, we would not have reacted," he told the news agency ANI. #WATCH | Brasilia, Brazil | "We have enormous respect for the American presidency, and we will speak with that respect in mind. But broadly speaking, our understanding is a bit different... No one needed to persuade us to stop. We had already said to stop. If there was any… — ANI (@ANI) June 3, 2025 Mr Tharoor, whose party has questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over President Trump's ceasefire claims, said that no one needed to "persuade India to stop". "We had already said to stop. If there was any persuasion by the American president or his senior officials, it would have been persuasion of the Pakistanis. They would have had to be persuaded," he said. "We don't need to be persuaded because we don't want war. We want to focus on development. That's the basic message," the Congress leader added. Trump Says Stopped "Potential Nuclear War" Between India, Pak Shashi Tharoor's reaction comes days after President Trump said the "deal" he is most proud of is that he was able to stop "potentially a nuclear war" between India and Pakistan. "I think the deal I'm most proud of is the fact that we're dealing with India, we're dealing with Pakistan, and we were able to stop potentially a nuclear war through trade as opposed to through bullets," he said during a press conference in the Oval Office last Friday. "It was getting very bad. It was getting very nasty. They are both nuclear powers," he said. "We can't trade with people that are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons," he added. President Trump also said that leaders in India and Pakistan are "great leaders" and "they understood, and they agreed, and that all stopped." India-Pakistan Tensions Tensions between India and Pakistan have increased following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22, which left 26 people dead. India, after finding cross-border links to the attack, launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 and struck terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pakistan then launched a massive missile and drone attack, but the threats were thwarted. In retaliation, Indian forces struck airfields in Pakistan. A ceasefire on May 10 ended the hostilities. India has maintained that the ceasefire was agreed upon following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
NDTV
37 minutes ago
- NDTV
In Canada Lake, Robot Learns To Mine Without Disrupting Marine Life
Ottawa: Three robotic arms extended under the water in a Canadian lake, delicately selecting pebbles from the bed, before storing them back inside the machine. The exercise was part of a series of tests the robot was undergoing before planned deployment in the ocean, where its operators hope the machine can transform the search for the world's most sought-after metals. The robot was made by Impossible Metals, a company founded in California in 2020, which says it is trying to develop technology that allows the seabed to be harvested with limited ecological disruption. Conventional underwater harvesting involves scooping up huge amounts of material in search of potato-sized things called poly-metallic nodules. These nodules contain nickel, copper, cobalt, or other metals needed for electric vehicle batteries, among other key products. Impossible Metals' co-founder Jason Gillham told AFP his company's robot looks for the nodules "in a selective way." The prototype, being tested in the province of Ontario, remains stationary in the water, hovering over the lake bottom. In a lab, company staff monitor the yellow robot on screens, using what looks like a video game console to direct its movements. Using lights, cameras and artificial intelligence, the robot tries to identify the sought-after nodules while leaving aquatic life -- such as octopuses' eggs, coral, or sponges -- undisturbed. 'A bit like bulldozers' In a first for the nascent sector, Impossible Metals has requested a permit from US President Donald Trump to use its robot in American waters around Samoa, in the Pacific. The company is hoping that its promise of limited ecological disruption will give it added appeal. Competitors, like The Metals Company, use giant machines that roll along the seabed and suck up the nodules, a highly controversial technique. Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP this method scoops up ocean floor using collectors or excavators, "a bit like bulldozers," he explained. Everything is then brought up to ships, where the nodules are separated from waste, which is tossed back into the ocean. This creates large plumes of sediment and toxins with a multitude of potential impacts, he said. A less invasive approach, like that advocated by Impossible Metals, would reduce the risk of environmental damage, McCauley explained. But he noted lighter-touch harvesting is not without risk. The nodules themselves also harbor living organisms, and removing them even with a selective technique, involves destroying the habitat, he said. Impossible Metals admits its technology cannot detect microscopic life, but the company claims to have a policy of leaving 60 percent of the nodules untouched. McCauley is unconvinced, explaining "ecosystems in the deep ocean are especially fragile and sensitive." "Life down there moves very slowly, so they reproduce very slowly, they grow very slowly." Duncan Currie of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said it was impossible to assess the impact of any deep sea harvesting. "We don't know enough yet either in terms of the biodiversity and the ecosystem down there," he told AFP. According to the international scientific initiative Ocean Census, only 250,000 species are known, out of the two million that are estimated to populate the oceans. High demand Mining is "always going to have some impact," said Impossible Metals chief executive and co-founder Oliver Gunasekara, who has spent most of his career in the semiconductor field. But, he added, "we need a lot more critical minerals, as we want to electrify everything." Illustrating the global rush toward underwater mining, Impossible Metals has raised US$15 million from investors to build and test a first series of its Eureka 3 robot in 2026. The commercial version will be the size of a shipping container and will expand from three to 16 arms, and its battery will grow from 14 to nearly 200 kilowatt-hours. The robot will be fully autonomous and self-propel, without cables or tethers to the surface, and be equipped with sensors. While awaiting the US green light, the company hopes to finalize its technology within two to three years, conduct ocean tests, build a fleet, and operate through partnerships elsewhere in the world.
NDTV
37 minutes ago
- NDTV
Researchers Eyeing Options Beyond US Can Look To This Country
With former US President Donald Trump back in power, the American research community is facing renewed uncertainty. Visa cancellations, abrupt funding cuts, and restrictive policies are pushing scientists and researchers to seek opportunities elsewhere. Amid this exodus, Germany has stepped in as a welcoming alternative-especially through its Max Planck Society. The Max Planck Society, one of the world's leading research networks, has seen a huge surge in applications from US-based researchers for its Spring 2025 intake. Notably, 81 women scientists from the US have applied this year, up from just 25 last year. The rise in applications from the US contrasts with stable numbers from other parts of the world, signalling a significant shift in researcher sentiment. Max Planck Society President Patrick Cramer revealed that nearly half of these new applicants are affiliated with leading US institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, MIT, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the University of California system. Funded by the German government, the society comprises 84 research institutes and operates on an annual budget of 2 billion euros. It currently hosts 39 Nobel laureates, and 20 new researcher positions are now open. The exodus of researchers is largely linked to the Trump administration's crackdown on international scholars. A controversial directive sought to ban institutions like Harvard from admitting foreign students. Although a federal court has temporarily blocked this move, the uncertainty has already triggered panic in academic circles. The broader global education and research community has taken notice. High-profile scholars such as Yale historian Timothy Snyder have resigned in protest and relocated to institutions abroad. Anticipating this wave of displaced researchers, Germany has launched a national initiative called "1000 Brains" to expand its research infrastructure and absorb global talent.
