Europe's top trade official said today that new US steel and aluminum tariffs are distorting global trade and could damage hopes for economic growth.
Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union's trade commissioner, also said the bloc would not offer any concessions in order to be exempt from the U.S. import duties ahead of a May 1 deadline in talks.
"We are a seeing a recovery and a potential growth in trade and global growth but it is threatened by these tariffs," she told reporters in Strasbourg, France. "We can see already tendencies of distortion of trade that affects the EU as well."
Malmstrom also expressed concern about trade tensions between the US and China, describing a possible escalation as "something that could be very worrisome for the global economy."