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Major US trading partners have offered a range of responses to President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which took effect Wednesday. Most opted against immediate retaliation and many sounded ready to talk instead. Others took a more confrontational approach.
Here’s how the US’s main trading partners reacted initially to Trump’s well-telegraphed trade barriers on the metals:
Forceful
European Union: Brussels had the most detailed and reciprocal response, saying it will impose duties on up to €26 billion ($28 billion) of politically sensitive American goods largely from Republican-led states.
The bloc will hit beef and poultry in states like Nebraska and Kansas as well as soybeans from Louisiana, the home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a senior EU official.
The EU will immediately begin consultations with member states over the tariff lists, which are due to take effect by mid-April, giving at least a few weeks of transatlantic negotiations to play out.
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The day after announcing its retaliation, the EU faced a new threat from Trump: 200% levies on US imports of European wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages. Talks between the two sides are expected soon.
“For many countries, the scale of the US market relative to their own economies mean it may not make much sense to retaliate with tariffs on American goods,” said Maeva Cousin, chief trade economist with Bloomberg Economics. “The EU stands out as the only one that may stand a chance in a one-on-one confrontation — and even it would have about twice as much to lose as the US.”
Canada: Leading up to the Wednesday deadline, Canada staked out perhaps the toughest position against Trump’s duties threats, which have extended beyond accusations of trade unfairness and into the realm of Trump’s desire to annex the US’s northern neighbor.
Canada responded to Trump’s import taxes with a series of retaliatory measures, including a 25% surcharge on electricity sent to Minnesota, New York, and Michigan from Ontario — a fee that was withdrawn after Trump threatened to double the metals tariff on Canada to 50%.
Mark Carney, the incoming prime minister, called the US “a country we can no longer trust,” and said his new government will keep its retaliatory tariffs in place “until the Americans show us respect.”
In an interview Thursday on Bloomberg Television, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Canada’s response “tone deaf” while praising countries like Mexico and the UK that showed restraint and didn’t retaliate.
Surgical
China: Fast but measured in responding to Trump’s two previous moves to add 10% levies on all its shipments, Beijing didn’t immediately comment on Wednesday to the latest volley.
But China did summon Walmart Inc. executives over reports it asked suppliers to bear rising costs incurred by increased US tariffs.
Beijing also hit back at US accusations that China wasn’t doing enough to curb the fentanyl trade, saying that the US owes them a “big thank you” for their help so far, while calling for talks on duties.
According to Cousin’s estimates, China has targeted a hike in tariff revenues on US goods of around $5 for each $100 increase in tariff revenues enacted by Washington on Chinese goods.
Cautious
Mexico: In contrast to Canadian politicians, President Claudia Sheinbaum and her trade team have responded to the Trump administration with more restraint.
In particular, the US president has credited her government’s crackdown on fentanyl flowing over the northern border. Mexico was measured in its retaliation threats and also took steps aimed at preventing a flood of Chinese imports.
Shortly before Trump’s 25% tariffs kicked in, Mexico announced it was launching an investigation into dumping by the Chinese and Vietnamese governments of one kind of imported steel.
Sheinbaum herself characterized Mexico’s responses as “cool-headed.”
Non-Confrontational
UK: Downing Street opted against an immediate retaliation and reaffirmed its commitment to talks. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds called the US decision to impose 25% levies on foreign metal products without exemptions “disappointing.”
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray told Times Radio: “We’re not going to retaliate immediately in that way.” He added that Britain would “reserve our right to retaliate” in due course.
Australia: Canberra opted against any immediate retaliation, too. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese complained about Trump’s tariffs as “entirely” unjustified and an act of “economic self-harm.”
He said, “friends need to act in a way that reinforces to our respective populations the fact that we are friends. This is not a friendly act.”
Trump had told the Australian leader during talks by telephone last month that he would consider an exemption.
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South Korea: Shortly after the tariffs took effect, South Korea’s Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun convened a meeting with business leaders and discussed ways to beef up their joint response.
“We will protect the interest of our industries as much as possible by further stepping up our response system before reciprocal tariffs take effect in early April,” Ahn said. He urged companies to actively reach out to US stakeholders and share details of their discussions with the government in real-time, his office said.
But South Korea, a major metals producer in Asia, refrained from taking any immediate retaliation steps. Instead, Seoul sent its trade minister to Washington to accelerate negotiations with the Trump administration.
Brazil: South America’s largest economy will be taking a reciprocal approach to the new US tariffs, only after attempting to negotiate an alternative with the Trump administration first, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters Wednesday.
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“We will deal with them based on reciprocity, but first, the table for negotiations with the American government is open,” Haddad said after meeting with the head of the Brazilian Steel Institute, an industry group, in Brasilia.
Japan: The US’s fifth-largest partner in goods trade responded with regret “that the additional tariffs have been imposed without an exemption for Japan, even when Japan has explained its concerns to the US at various levels regarding this latest measure,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a regular press briefing held Wednesday.
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