That aligned it more closely with regional partners South Korea and Japan, as well as Mexico, which have opted to wait and see rather than respond immediately to the steel and aluminium tariffs.
Britain’s Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer also exercised caution, saying the UK would take a “pragmatic approach” but “keep all options on the table”.
However, Canada and the EU took strident counter-measures.
Canada, the largest supplier of steel to the US, announced new 25 per cent tariffs on $C30 billion ($33 billion) worth of US goods that will also hit computers, sports equipment and cast-iron products.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s finance minister, said the new tariffs were in addition to levies on a separate $33 billion worth of US goods enacted this week. “We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminum industries are being unfairly targeted,” he said.
The EU resuscitated its retaliatory tariffs from Trump’s first term, targeting textiles, bourbon, jeans, peanut butter, motorcycles and other products worth about $45 billion.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said consumer prices would rise and jobs were at stake. “We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.”
Trump was undeterred when asked about the escalating trade war on Wednesday as he met Ireland’s Taoiseach, (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin, in the Oval Office. He disputed that the unpredictability of near-daily changes in tariff policy was undermining market confidence.
“I have the right to adjust,” he said. “It’s not called inconsistency, it’s called flexibility.”
Lutnick said only a significant increase in domestic US production would lead to the steel and aluminium tariffs being wound back.
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“Nothing’s going to stop that until we’ve got a big strong domestic steel and aluminium capability. National security rises above all other things,” he told Fox Business.
Australia’s $1 billion of steel and aluminium exports to the US constitute a small fraction of America’s annual imports of those metals.
But Canberra fears Australian agricultural and pharmaceutical products could be hit by a future wave of Trump tariffs, with so-called “reciprocal” levies due to begin on April 2.
