Germany calls for EU help in steel showdown with US
AFP
AFP, FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Germany yesterday called on the European Commission to back its steelmakers by insisting on global trade rules in a dispute with US competitors. The US Department of Commerce has launched dumping proceedings against foreign steel firms, including two German producerssuspecting they may be selling stock at unfairly low prices to undercut US producers.
German manufacturers have nothing to fear from fair competition, foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel countered in a letter to trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, urging Brussels to push the US to respect World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules when judging the case.
US competitors may hope that the new US government would be ready to allow them unfair dumping competition, even when that infringes the rules. We Europeans cant allow that, Gabriel said. In my judgement its extremely important to take a clear position and not to start transatlantic trade dialogue with the new US government with a negative and unjustified decision, he went on, according to extracts from the letter released by the foreign ministry.
If EU steelmakers are found to be selling steel at unfair prices and forced to pay high tariffs in the US, they could face massive disadvantages in international competition, the foreign ministry statement said.
Berlin has already lobbied for the use of recognised, fair rules in the proceedings with different levels of the US government, it went on. President Donald Trump has vowed to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, if necessary by imposing heavy tariffs on imported goodsa plan that runs counter to long-standing global consensus on free trade.
