The European Commission announced on the 18th that it has informed the World Trade Organization of a list of products that may impose tariffs on the United States. If the United States imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum on the EU, the EU will take retaliatory measures.

The EU stated that the retaliatory measure is intended to compensate the EU for the impact of the addition of steel and aluminum tariffs in the same way. Once the measures taken by the EU take effect, it will be an effective safeguard measure. Before the EU notified the WTO, it had published the list of retaliations in the “Official Gazette” of the EU, which may take effect on June 20.

The EU believes that this circular is a procedural step for the EU to safeguard its own rights and interests under the WTO framework. It will not impose tariffs on US imports immediately. However, once the taxation is started in the future, it will fully comply with the WTO rules.

U. S. President Trump announced on March 8 that due to the importation of steel and aluminum products that endangered US "national security," the United States decided to impose tariffs of 25% and 10% on imported steel and aluminum products, respectively.

The White House agreed on March 22 to temporarily waive steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union, Argentina, and other economies until May 1, in order to negotiate with these economies to cope with the global steel and aluminum overcapacity.

Due to the failure to reach an agreement, on April 30, the United States announced that it will extend the EU, Canada, and Mexico's steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for one month to June 1. The parties will continue to negotiate for the last 30 days.

The EU believes that the export of its steel and aluminum products does not constitute a security threat to the United States and should be granted an unconditional permanent exemption.