Germany Unhappy Over U.S. Steel Tariffs

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 07, 2002

Germany Unhappy Over U.S. Steel Tariffs

Germany expressed it discontent Wednesday with a U.S. decision to levy punitive tariffs on steel imports to the United States.

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Germany expressed it discontent Wednesday with a U.S. decision to levy punitive tariffs on steel imports to the United States.

The German government sharply criticized the planned tariffs. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder complained in writing to U.S. president George W. Bush, calling the tariffs the "wrong signal" for a liberalization of world trade. Germany and the United States have a particular responsibility to the existing world trade system, the chancellor wrote.

German Minister of Economics Werner Mueller was also critical of Bush's decision, calling it "a significant weight on trade relations between Europe and America." "German steel exports were particularly hard hit," he said, adding that a trade volume of around 1 billion euro (867 million U.S. dollars) was at stake.

On Tuesday, the Bush administration announced the approval of tariffs of up to 30 percent on most types of steel imports for a period of three years.

The most comprehensive trade protection in the U.S. steel industry's history imposes a 30 percent tariff on flat-rolled steel, including rolled tin, which covers more than half the value of steel imports into the United States.

With the unwavering support of Germany, the European Union appeared set to introduce its own import restrictions to protect the European Union market from cheap steel imports that no longer find their way to the United States. Higher EU tariffs could be implemented as soon as next week.

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