The decision of the United States Trump administration to impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum products has been strongly opposed by the international community. Many economies such as the European Union and Japan have warned that this measure by the United States may not only affect multi-party trade interests but also threaten the stability of the rules-based multilateral trading system.

Some US trade experts and politicians believe that the Trump administration's decision to impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum products in the European Union and other economies will undermine trade relations between the United States and its major allies, and make it more difficult to negotiate new North American free trade agreements. . Simon Lester, the trade policy analyst at the American Kato Institute, believes that steel and aluminum tariffs in the United States will make it more difficult to negotiate new North American Free Trade Agreements and harm trade relations between Europe and the United States. He believes that because the WTO litigation usually takes a long time, the European Union, Canada and Mexico will quickly adopt countermeasures against the US steel and aluminum tariffs. Eduard Alden, a senior fellow at the American Institute of Foreign Affairs, said that steel-aluminum tariff measures will undermine trade cooperation between the United States and its allies. The United States, Canada, and Mexico may continue to negotiate to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, but steel and aluminum tariffs will undermine the prospects for the three parties to reach a new trade agreement. He warned that if the Trump administration's national security investigation of imported cars leads to further tariff increases, the trade conflict between the United States and its allies will escalate dramatically.

In the face of the danger that trade wars may continue to escalate, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls on all countries to resolve trade differences through constructive cooperation. In response to the U.S. government’s decision to impose high tariffs on the steel and aluminum products of the European Union and other economies, IMF spokesperson Grace Rice stated in a statement on May 31 that, unfortunately, at the moment when trade growth supports the global economic recovery. , Trade tensions are escalating. He said that the IMF encourages countries to reduce trade barriers and resolve trade differences through constructive cooperation instead of using unconventional measures. Everyone is a loser in the long-term trade war. IMF President Lagarde said on social media tweets that if global trade is severely damaged, if the trust between economies is severely damaged, the poorest people will eventually suffer the most severe impact.

Earlier, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development also stated that the possibility of a trade war threatened the prospects for global economic growth and called for the suppression of the growing tension in global trade.