Trump announces a new trade war (this time against Europe and with the support of the WTO)

They are identified as one of the factors behind the recent slowdown in global economic growth, and now the Donald Trump government's trade policies are at the center of a new international controversy.

The US government announced Monday that it was preparing the application of US $ 11,000 million tariffs on goods from the European Union (EU).

"The EU has been profiting commercially from the United States for many years and this will stop soon!" Said Trump Tuesday morning in a Twitter message.

Many European products could be affected by these import taxes, according to a preliminary list published by Washington. These include:

• Cheeses (including Cheddar, Roquefort, Gruyère and Pecorino)

• Motorcycles with engines from 500 to 700 cm3

In addition, it is valued to impose additional charges on certain specific products if they are manufactured in France, Germany, Spain or the United Kingdom.

Specifically, it would act as helicopters, fuselages and landing gear intended for new civil aircraft.

Many open fronts

The Trump government has been involved in trade disputes on several fronts at once.

Among these, the tariff war with China may have made the headlines of the news. Experts say the outlook for global economic growth has been compromised.

Washington and Beijing negotiate an agreement to end this conflict.

But the Trump government went much further.

Last year, he began imposing import duties on steel and aluminum, even affecting allies such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union. .

In response, the EU imposed retaliatory measures amounting to 2,800 million euros (about 3,400 million US dollars) targeting a wide range of products: juice. orange to Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Last month, Trump threatened to impose sanctions on the importation of vehicles from the EU if the two sides failed to reach a trade deal.

From controversy to rules

Many experts, as well as officials from the affected countries, have criticized trade measures enforced by the Trump government, including steel and aluminum import duties, which violate trade rules. World Trade Organization (WTO). .

One of the main arguments for questioning these measures is that Washington has justified these actions by citing the need to protect "national security," a controversial statement.

In this sense, the new tariffs developed by the US government against the EU are completely different because they are preceded by a favorable WTO decision in the United States.

More than a decade ago, Washington accused Brussels of granting abusive subsidies to Airbus, which would have caused losses of several million dollars to the US company Boeing.

Although the EU largely ended this aid in 2011, the United States maintained the complaint and, in May 2018, the WTO reported that the EU did not go ahead. was not consistent with the removal of subsidies, thus opening the door for the implementation of measures by Washington. compensatory.

The US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, announced Monday that he was preparing to take immediate action as soon as the WTO would determine the amount by which Washington would be allowed to apply these rights to the EU.

Although the Trump government has proposed that the measures total 11 billion US dollars, it will ultimately be a WTO arbitrator who will define the amount.

European Commission sources say the US proposal is exaggerated, but they also hope that an Airbus denunciation will flourish against the US government's alleged subsidies to Boeing, which is why it also plans to start drawing up a list. response actions.

Thus, the trade dispute between the United States and the European Union is still open, even if this time neither of the parties uses it. Application of unilateral but arbitrated solutions.