Trump trade war heats up as Canada, EU retaliate

What happened

President Donald Trump Wednesday imposed blanket 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, prompting immediate retaliatory measures from Canada and the European Union. Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he would "of course" respond to the EU countermeasures with more tariffs. "Whatever they charge us with, we're charging them," he said.

Who said what

EU officials said Wednesday they were hitting back with equivalent tariffs only after Trump expressed no interest in negotiating an off-ramp. "Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. "Jobs are at stake, prices up, nobody needs that." Britain, Australia, Mexico and Brazil said they would not immediately retaliate over Trump's import taxes on steel, aluminum and "hundreds of downstream products, from nuts and bolts to bulldozer blades and soda cans," Reuters said.

Trump "risks igniting a global trade war" and juicing U.S. inflation, CNN said. But it has been "hard for Europeans — and other American trading partners — to decide how to respond" to his "unfolding trade conflict," The New York Times said, especially since it isn't clear what Trump's "goals are," which tariffs will "ultimately be retained," who "to talk to in the Trump administration" about trade or "how decisions are being made."

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What next?

It's possible Trump is right his "erratic tariff policies" and budget cuts will result in "unexpected gains" and revived U.S. manufacturing "on the other side" of the resulting "period of havoc," but "there isn't much evidence" to support that, The Wall Street Journal said. Instead, his economic theories "edge close to the 'liquidationist'" policies "most infamously associated with former President Herbert Hoover's Treasury secretary who advised him to let the economy fall."

Canada's retaliatory 25% tariffs on $20.6 billion in U.S. aluminum, steel, computer, sporting goods and other imports take effect Thursday. The EU's 50% tariffs on American whisky, motorcycles and other politically sensitive goods start April 1, with more levies following a few weeks later.