WASHINGTON _ In a move that sharply escalates trade tensions with America's closest allies, the Trump administration said Thursday it would allow steep tariffs to take effect on imported steel from the Europe Union, Canada and Mexico.
Despite European officials' last-ditch pleas as well as repeated vows of retaliation, the administration said it would not extend for a third time temporary tariff exemptions on steel and aluminum, which expire on midnight Friday.
If the duties are imposed � 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum � EU leaders said they would have no choice but to respond with counter-tariffs on as much as $3.5 billion of U.S. imports. Among the imports that would be targeted are such iconic American products as blue jeans, Kentucky bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles � products aimed at applying maximum political pressure as they are produced in home states of top lawmakers.
European officials on Thursday met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in Paris in a final effort to dissuade the administration from going through with the tariffs, but Ross was unmoved and, in a call with reporters from Paris, Ross announced that the tariffs would be imposed.
Earlier, he had suggested that negotiations could continue even after the tariffs are imposed, but EU officials had insisted that the threat of metal tariffs must be lifted before broader negotiations could take place.
Ross, asked about concerns of retaliation that would target farm goods and other U.S. products, said: "Let's see what evolves as things go forward."
The tariffs are also likely to complicate ongoing negotiations with Canada and Mexico to reform the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Trump administration made it no secret that the threat of steel and aluminum tariffs was intended as a lever to win concessions from Canada and Mexico, but the parties remain far apart on key issues.
In keeping with his campaign promise, Trump has been demanding lower tariffs and fairer terms from trading partners across the globe in a bid to reduce the U.S. trade deficit and bolster domestic production.
The administration's biggest long-term challenge is with China. Earlier this week the White House said it would move forward with plans to apply tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods, to take effect as soon as next month.
That announcement threatened to scuttle ongoing talks with China, but Ross said Thursday that he planned to go to Beijing this weekned, as scheduled, for another round of negotiations.
The EU as a bloc is the United States' largest trading partner, and European officials, led by France and Germany, have balked at Trump's bare-knuckle negotiating strategy, even as some officials have indicated a willingness to negotiate a trade deal with the U.S. to cover industrial goods such as cars.
