PARIS (Reuters) -France’s European Affairs Minister, Benjamin Haddad, said on Wednesday the European Union could go further in its response to U.S. tariffs, though a trade war was in no-one’s interest.
President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on all U.S. steel and aluminium imports took effect on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to reorder global trade norms in favour of the U.S. that drew swift retaliation from Europe.
In response, the European Commission said it will impose counter tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods from next month.
The commission said it will end the current suspension of tariffs on U.S. products on April 1 and will also put forward a new package of countermeasures on U.S. goods by mid-April.
“We have the means to go further, if we want,” Haddad told TF1 TV.
“For example, if it came to a situation where we had to go further, digital services or intellectual property could be included,” he added.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Andrew Heavens)
