Trump ‘clarity’ on tariffs not what EU looked for

Bloomberg

Hours after EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said she had “no immediate clarity” on whether the bloc will be let off the hook from planned US tariffs, President Donald Trump laid down his conditions and repeated a threat if they’re not met.
“The European Union, wonderful countries who treat the US very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum,” he wrote on Twitter.
“If they drop their horrific barriers & tariffs on US products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big Deficit. If not, we Tax Cars etc. FAIR!”
Trump’s response came after Malmstrom on Twitter described what she called “frank” but fruitless talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Brussels.
There was still “no immediate clarity on the exact US procedure on exemption,” Malmstrom, the 28-nation bloc’s trade commissioner, said after the meeting that also included Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko. “As a close security and trade partner of the US the EU must be excluded from the announced measures,” she said.
Canada, Mexico and Australia have secured exemptions from the tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and
10 percent on aluminum announced by Trump, though Canada’s and Mexico’s were conditioned on progress renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull heralded his nation’s exemption with Trump, which he described as “a very good and productive discussion.”
Trump has called the tariffs a matter of national security while threatening to tax European car imports and impose “reciprocal taxes” on countries that charge higher duties on US
goods than the US now charges on their products.
Seko called on the US to exclude Japan from the US tariffs, Japan’s trade ministry said in a statement. Japanese steel and aluminum exports don’t have any negative effects on US national security, and contribute to American industry and jobs, Seko said, according to the ministry.