The European Parliament called Trump's duties a lose-lose scenario

The introduction by US President Donald Trump of 25% duties on imports of steel and aluminum is an economically counterproductive decision. This was stated by European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Policy Maroš Šefčovič on February 11 at a meeting of the European Parliament.

"The EU sees no justification for imposing duties on our exports because it is economically counterproductive, especially given the deeply integrated production chains created through our extensive transatlantic trade and investment links," Šefčovič said.

He said the duties hurt businesses and US consumers themselves.

"Duties are a tax that hurts business and hurts consumers even more. By imposing duties, the US is taxing its own citizens, raising costs for its own business and fueling inflation," the European Commissioner said.

The politician also called the duties a "lose-lose scenario" as they could cause devastating consequences for the global trading system as a whole.

"Duties not only harm immediate trading partners, but also risk causing devastating consequences for many others, as well as for the global trading system as a whole. Simply put, this is a lose-lose scenario," he noted.

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Earlier, on February 10, it was reported that Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 10% to 25%, as well as removed various exemptions and duty waivers for the largest suppliers. Prior to that, Trump had specified that these duties would be imposed on products from those countries that had previously imposed retaliatory restrictions on US products.

At the same time, the CEO of the association of steel producers UK Steel Gareth Stace said that Trump's decision to impose duties on imports of aluminum and steel will be a crushing blow to the UK steel sector.

On February 1, Trump signed an executive order imposing trade tariffs of 25% on goods from Canada, China and Mexico. At the same time, he promised to impose duties on goods from the EU. With this decision, Trump seeks to reduce the flow of the opioid fentanyl across the border, as well as the flow of migrants.