EU’s top trade official in US Tuesday for Trump tariff talks
Brussels, (MILLAT ONLINE):EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem will hold talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday over a possible exemption on metals tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump, a European source said.
Malmstroem, the EU’s top trade official, will meet US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other officials on the visit, the source close to the European Commission said Monday.
The visit comes after Trump stunned trading partners earlier this month when he suddenly pledged to impose 25-percent duties on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminium.
Malmstroem’s visit comes as German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier arrived in Washington on Sunday to meet US government officials in hopes of ending the feud in which Trump has singled out Germany, the EU’s export powerhouse.
Before leaving for the US, Altmaier said in an interview with the German daily Handelsblatt that the US leader “would not succeed” in dividing EU countries on the issue of trade.
Trump says the shock measures are in response to “unfair” trade practices, but countries around the world have vowed to retaliate, raising the spectre of a tit-for-tat trade war.
Trump’s taxes are to come into effect on imports worldwide on March 23, with the exception so far of Canada and Mexico, which have won exemptions from the US.