EU takes countermeasures against US exports

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The European Union (EU) has put in place countermeasures against the United States exports by slapping tariffs on U.S. products worth 4 billion U.S. dollars, the European Commission said on Monday.

The measures will take effect on Nov. 10, said European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis during a press conference held here.

Additional tariffs will be slapped on products ranging from aircraft parts to agricultural, and industrial goods, according to Dombrovskis. The rates will mirror the U.S. tariffs, he added.

The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Oct. 26 authorized the EU to take countermeasures against "illegal subsidies" granted to the U.S. aircraft maker 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 dollars, and the duties remained even after European governments took decisions to ensure full compliance with WTO rules and removed the grounds for the U.S. 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 United States 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 U.S. is ready to do so on their side, will it be under the current or next U.S. administration."

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

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