European Union announces new tariffs as countermeasures against US exports

The European Union (EU) has put in place countermeasures against the US exports by slapping tariffs on American products worth $4 billion, the European Commission said in an official statement.

The measures will take effect on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency quoted European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis as saying at a press conference here on Monday.

Additional tariffs will be slapped on products ranging from aircraft parts to agricultural, and industrial goods, according to Dombrovskis.

The rates will mirror the US tariffs, he added.

The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on October 26 had authorized the EU to take countermeasures against "illegal subsidies" granted to the American airplane giant, Boeing.

In October last year, following a similar WTO decision in a parallel case on Airbus subsidies, Washington started to impose retaliatory duties that affect EU exports worth $7.5 billion.

The duties remained even after European governments took decisions to ensure full compliance with WTO rules and removed the grounds for the US to maintain the tariffs in July this year.

The latest EU announcement came after the trade ministers of the 27-member bloc met online earlier on Monday.

The ministers discussed trade relations with the US and China, as well as the outlook for the reform of WTO.

But Dombrovskis expressed the EU's possible flexibility on the new measures, saying: "We are ready to remove or suspend our tariffs anytime when the US is ready to do so on their side, will it be under the current or next US administration."

He underlined that the goal was not to escalate the situation but rather to reciprocate and mirror the US measures as much as possible to protect EU products.

--IANS

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