EU could hit back at U.S. over steel 'within three months' -- WSJ

EU could hit back at U.S. over steel 'within three months' -- WSJ

Agence France-Presse
Brussels

The European Union could start "within three months" to
retaliate against U.S. tariffs on steel imports, the Wall Street
Journal reported Wednesday.

In its European edition, the U.S. financial newspaper said the
EU's retaliatory measures -- worth 341.1 million euros (US$300
million) -- would mainly focus on U.S. steel exports to Europe.

EU Trade Commission Pascal Lamy had previously said that he
was considering sanctions worth $2.1 billion, but not before a
year has passed to allow the World Trade Organization (WTO) to
review the dispute.

"By moving up the date, the EU wants to apply some pressure on
Washington before November congressional elections" and to create
a global alliance of nations opposed to the U.S. tariffs, the
Journal said.

More sanctions could follow in the second half of 2002, after
an expected WTO ruling on the legality of the Bush
administration's decision to slap tariffs of up to 30 percent on
most steel imports.

Washington says the tariffs are necessary to protect the
ailing U.S. steel industry and jobs, but the Europeans say the
unilateral action -- which exempts Canada and Mexico -- breaks
international trade laws.

In Brussels, a European official told AFP that a list of U.S.
products that could be targeted by EU retaliatory measures was
still being drawn up.

"One of the possibilities includes a smaller list that could
be implemented before the middle of June," the official said.

Last month Lamy gave the 15 EU member states a list of U.S.
products -- reportedly ranging from orange juice to Harley-
Davidson motorcycles -- that could be singled out for retaliatory
tariffs.

But some nations, notably Britain and Germany, are understood
to have expressed reservations about the list, which observers
believe was designed to target politically sensitive parts of the
United States.