The EU is trying to be exempted from tariffs on steel and aluminum to be
imposed by US president Donald Trump and avoid a trade war between
close allies.
"Europe is certainly not a threat to American internal security, so we expect to be excluded," EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said in Brussels in Friday.
She insisted that "nobody has an interest of escalating this situation."
Malmstroem will meet US trade representative Robert Lighthizer on Saturday, along with Japan's trade minister Hiroshige Seko.
She will argue that EU companies are not state-subsidised nor in overcapacity, and that therefore they are not a source of "unfair trade" with the US.
She will also insist that US tariffs fail to address the main problem on the global steel market: China's overcapacity by state-owned companies.
"We agree on the problems, not on the remedy," said an EU official on Friday, insisting that tariffs are "a prescription for the wrong illness".
"Overcapacities will be on the agenda" of Saturday's meeting, European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen confirmed. ??He warned however that the dispute will not be solved on Saturday.
"Tomorrow's meeting is a meeting, not the meeting," he said, adding that "most probably the discussion will continue."
He added that the EU was still preparing to impose counter-measures, including tariffs on US products.
"We are hoping we are not forced to use them," he said, but warned that "if the worst case scenario happens, we are ready to take the US to the WTO [World Trade Organization] court."
Read more: EU insists on US tariffs exemption
"Europe is certainly not a threat to American internal security, so we expect to be excluded," EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said in Brussels in Friday.
She insisted that "nobody has an interest of escalating this situation."
Malmstroem will meet US trade representative Robert Lighthizer on Saturday, along with Japan's trade minister Hiroshige Seko.
She will argue that EU companies are not state-subsidised nor in overcapacity, and that therefore they are not a source of "unfair trade" with the US.
She will also insist that US tariffs fail to address the main problem on the global steel market: China's overcapacity by state-owned companies.
"We agree on the problems, not on the remedy," said an EU official on Friday, insisting that tariffs are "a prescription for the wrong illness".
"Overcapacities will be on the agenda" of Saturday's meeting, European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen confirmed. ??He warned however that the dispute will not be solved on Saturday.
"Tomorrow's meeting is a meeting, not the meeting," he said, adding that "most probably the discussion will continue."
He added that the EU was still preparing to impose counter-measures, including tariffs on US products.
"We are hoping we are not forced to use them," he said, but warned that "if the worst case scenario happens, we are ready to take the US to the WTO [World Trade Organization] court."
Read more: EU insists on US tariffs exemption
