International Trade Law News

As a result of the WTO's decision on the U.S. Safeguards on steel products, WTO Rules permits the European Union to impose additional tariffs on U.S. products. These tariffs are knows as "re-balancing measures." Products from the US concerned by the EU re-balancing measures was issued in Annex Two of European Council regulation 1031/2002. The EU re-balancing measures consist of additional duties of 8, 13, 15 or 30%, depending on the product. These additional duties mirror the additional tariffs imposed on EU steel exports in the context of the US steel safeguards.

In addition to most steel products, the list includes a number of products that were designed to impose maximum political pressure on the U.S. The list includes orange juice (from Florida), cigarettes, numerous agricultural products, sunglasses, knitwear, motor boats and photocopying machines. The list represents $2,242 million of US exports to the EU. This amount is substantially equivalent to the value of EU steel exports affected by the US steel safeguards.