"We French and Europeans don't want a trade war. But if we're attacked, we will have to defend our interests," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.
The day before, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom stated that it was unrealistic that the US decided to refrain from applying tariffs to the goods from the bloc after the temporary exemption expires. Instead, Washington is likely to impose a cap on the exports from the EU, according to the bloc's trade chief.
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In March, the United States introduced a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on imported aluminum. A number of countries as well as the European Union were exempted first until May 1 and then for one more month until June 1.