The US will impose tariffs of up to 30 per cent on most imported steel, a decision that may help the country's ailing steel industry but could also touch off a bitter international trade dispute.
The action, announced by US President Bush last night, while short of the 40 per cent tariff US steel companies had sought, will block billions of dollars worth of steel from the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Russia and China from sale in the world's largest market.
It will offer the US steel industry the most comprehensive trade protection in its history, exceeding the "voluntary" quotas negotiated with Europe and Japan in the mid-1980s.
The European Commission pledged to take firm and rapid action to counter the US measures. An emergency meeting of six European Commissioners was due to discuss the European Union's response this morning.
The Minister of Finance, Mr McCreevy, who was in Brussels yesterday for a meeting with his EU counterparts, said: "We do not want anything to start that would limit possibilities for trade." Even a small row would be of concern to the Irish economy, he warned.
The EU has made clear it will challenge the US trade restrictions in the World Trade Organisation. It plans to erect barriers around its own steel market if it detects any danger of imports from third countries being diverted to it as a result of the US measures.
The European Commission has strongly contested US claims that European steel is being dumped or unfairly subsidised. The US argues the action is legal under world trade rules that allow countries temporarily to protect industries that are being damaged by a flood of imports.- (Financial Times Service)
