EU to begin retaliatory tariffs against US on Friday

25% duty on American goods, including bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles

The European Union triggered the first phase of retaliation against the US over its metal-import tariffs imposed on national-security grounds, making good on more than three months of threats to hit American goods with tit-for-tat levies.

The European Commission in Brussels gave final approval for a 25 per cent duty on €2.8 billion ($3.2 billion) of EU imports of a range of US products including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Levi Strauss jeans and bourbon whiskey. A separate 10 per cent levy is being applied to US playing cards imported into the bloc.

The duties, due to be published in the Official Journal on Thursday and to take effect on Friday, are a response to US tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum that the EU says are pure protectionism masquerading as national-security policy.

“We did not want to be in this position,” European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a statement on Wednesday.

 “However, the unilateral and unjustified decision of the US to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on the EU means that we are left with no other choice.”

The EU countermeasures cover a total of around 200 categories of US products also including various types of corn, rice, orange juice, cigarettes, cigars, t-shirts, cosmetics, boats and steel.

The EU is reserving the right to target more US products with further duties no later than March 23, 2021. Second-stage retaliation would involve levies ranging from 10 percent to 50 per cent on an extra €3.6 billion  of American goods imported into the European Union.