The European Union should be excluded from President Donald Trump's tariff plans, trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström said Friday.
"We had been in talks with our American friends for quite some time to explain to them that whereas we share the concerns over overcapacity in the steel sector, this is not the right way to deal with it," Malmström said during a panel discussion in Brussels, CNBC reported.
"It is certainly not the right way to include Europe in that because we are friends, we are allies, we work together, we cannot possibly be a threat to national security in the U.S. so we are counting on being excluded," Malmstrom said.
A collapse in steel prices has hit Western countries including the U.S., Italy, and Belgium, which has led to job losses in the industry, CNBC reported.
Malmström is set to meet U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer on Saturday. She said she would seek clarification from him about whether the EU was excluded.
She said she would take the case to the World Trade Organization if necessary.
"We have been very clear that we think this is not in compliance with WTO so we go WTO possibly with some other friends… nobody has an interest of escalating this situation, but if we have to do that, that's what we will do," Malmström said, CNBC reported.
Trump on Thursday announced a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum.
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