The EU is taking America to trade court

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."

Malmstrom cast the Trump administration and China, which is the subject of a separate WTO case brought by the EU, as threats to the global market. "If players in the world do not stick to the rule book, the system might collapse," she said. In addition to the case, the EU plans to levy retaliatory tariffs against America.

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The White House did not respond to a Wall Street Journal request for comment on the suit.