EU: No Concessions or Trade Talk Until Tariff Exemptions

The European Union has thrown down the gauntlet to the U.S. regarding trade negotiations. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said there will be no future trade talks with the U.S. until the EU receives a permanent exclusion from tariffs on steel and aluminum. No concessions will be made to the U.S. to receive the exclusion, added Malmström.

“We have not offered the U.S. anything,” she said at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday. “We are not going to offer them anything to get exceptions from tariffs we consider not in compliance with the [World Trade Organization]. So we are asking them, we are demanding a permanent and unconditional exception from that. When that is confirmed by the president, we are, as always, willing to discuss anything when it comes to trade, trade facilitation, trade irritants, with the U.S. and others. But we are not negotiating anything under threat. We are not offering them anything.”