European Commission says EU has right to take retaliatory measures against US imports

The report is via Bloomberg, which says the European Commission briefed national government envoys yesterday

It says that the EU has the right to take immediate retaliatory measures against imports of US products worth 50% of the EU's exports of steel in the US - which will be hurt by Trump's tariffs plan.

The report says that duties can be imposed without waiting for WTO dispute-settlement procedures. And that means if the EU would want to, they can actually take matters into their own hands now - and that would not bode well for market sentiment if that were to happen.

Bloomberg reports that the list includes steel products, industrial products (including shirts, jeans, cosmetics, motorcycles, boats), agricultural and processed agricultural products (including rice, cranberries, orange juice, maize, whiskey, tobacco products).

It also says that tariffs of 25% may be imposed on products included in the list above.

This is a follow-up to the earlier headline here.