In early March, US President Donald Trump announced the US decision to introduce 25-percent tariffs on steel imports and 10-percent tariffs on aluminum imports.
"We are worried [about] the possibility of having a trade war between the United States and the EU because we believe that there will be only losers. We believe that protectionism is a dead end," Le Maire told reporters.
The French minister added that the issue of the overproduction of steel should be decided within the framework of the World Trade Organization or G20.
READ MORE: US Tariffs: 125 Republican Congressmen Asked Trump 'Don’t Do This' — Lawyer
Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, told reporters that Europe should be prepared to respond if the other country was behaving aggressively.