The European Union has opened a case challenging the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The tariffs went into effect Friday morning over the protests of U.S. allies in Europe as well as Canada and Mexico, and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom initiated the case immediately thereafter.
"We are not in a trade war, but we are in a very difficult situation caused by the United States," Malmstrom said. "I would not use the term 'trade war,' because it has a psychological effect," she continued, but the "U.S. is playing a dangerous game here. [For the EU] not responding will be the same as accepting these tariffs, which we consider illegal under WTO rules."
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