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Donald Trump has played down fears of a recession in the US (file photo) Alamy Stock Photo

EU and Canada announce retaliations against US as Trump's metal tariffs take effect

Steep US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports took effect overnight.

LAST UPDATE | 9 hrs ago

THE UNITED STATES’ tariffs on steel and aluminium imports have taken effect “with no exceptions or exemptions” as promised by the White House – despite countries’ efforts to avert them.

President Donald Trump’s 25 percent duties on both metals will likely add to the cost of producing various goods from home appliances to cars and cans used for drinks, threatening to raise consumer prices down the road.

The European Commission has announced “countermeasures” in response to the US tariffs, as has Canada.

“We deeply regret this measure,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement about the US tariffs, as Brussels announced it would be “launching a series of countermeasures” in response to the “unjustified trade restrictions”.

Von der Leyen estimated the US tariffs were worth $28 billion and the European Union’s response would affect the same amount of US products.

In a European Commission press statement declaring the tariffs, the EU said it would “automatically reinstate” levies first introduced in 2018 during the last Trump administration.

Canada has announced additional tariffs on CAN$29.8 billion (€18.98 billion) of US goods, retaliating against American levies on Canadian steel and aluminium.

Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc said the Canadian tariffs that come into force tomorrow will hit products that include computers and sports equipment, and were in response to President Donald Trump’s 25 percent levy on Canadian aluminium and steel, which he called “unjustified and unreasonable.”

“We will not stand idly by while our iconic steel and aluminium industries are being unfairly targeted,” Leblanc told reporters.

Flagship American goods

These targeted some flagship American goods, ranging from Levi’s blue jeans to Harley-Davidson motorbikes and bourbon.

These have been suspended in recent years but will take now effect from 1 April.

Those moves between the EU and the US come hours before Taoiseach Micheál Martin meets Trump at the White House for the annual St Patrick’s Day meeting.

However, the nations set to be hit hardest by Trump’s tariffs are Canada, Brazil and Mexico – all key US suppliers of steel – while the United Arab Emirates and South Korea are among the major providers of aluminium.

Trump has imposed steep tariffs on major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China since returning to office, allowing only a partial rollback for his country’s neighbours while vowing fresh levies from April 2.

The latest duties will again impact Canada heavily, with the country supplying about half of US aluminium imports and 20 percent of its steel imports.

Uncertainty over Trump’s trade plans and worries that they could tip the world’s biggest economy into a recession have roiled financial markets, with Wall Street indexes tumbling for a second straight day yesterday.

But Trump has played down fears over his handling of the economy, saying yesterday he does not see a downturn coming while dismissing losses on Wall Street.

Trump’s trade decisions have come with volatility, with the president threatening to double the tariff rate on Canadian steel and aluminium to 50 percent less than a day before the levies were due to kick in.

Trump has framed his tariffs as ways of getting carmakers and other manufacturers to move production to the US from neighbours like Canada and Mexico.

Rubio in Shannon

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said tariffs are not there to “punish” other countries and claimed that steel and aluminium are “national security concerns” for the US.

He accused other unnamed nations of “unfair trade practices” where states “subsidise their industries so that they can gain global market share” in the long-term.

Speaking to reporters during a stopover at Shannon Airport in Co Clare, he said Trump introduced tariffs because he wants to “develop a domestic capability” for the US.

“If you don’t have steel and aluminium, you can’t build warships, you can’t build airplanes,” he said.

Previous US trade policy “left us deeply vulnerable”, Rubio claims, “to any sort of interruptions in global supplies and or it being used to extort us”.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called the EU’s economic policies “out of step with reality”.

Blaming the EU for failing to help address global excess capacity on the metals and other sectors, Greer said: “The EU’s punitive action completely disregards the national security imperatives of the United States – and indeed international security.”

Responding to the worldwide tariffs, the UK’s Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds described the decision as “disappointing” and said “all options” are on the table to respond in the national interest.

Britain has resisted taking immediate retaliatory action against the move at present, in contrast to the EU.

“We are focused on a pragmatic approach and are rapidly negotiating a wider economic agreement with the US to eliminate additional tariffs and to benefit UK businesses and our economy,” Reynolds said.

“I will continue to engage closely and productively with the US to press the case for UK business interests. We will keep all options on the table and won’t hesitate to respond in the national interest.”

– © AFP 2025

With reporting by Eoghan Dalton and PA

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Terry Fagan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 1:40 AM

    Sky News at it again. Claiming Britain have “won the Space Race in Europe”! No mention of Ireland until it failed and then it “failed off the coast of Ireland” which it actually didn’t. The lowest of the low that lot. Their journalists hadn’t a clue what was going on either and they were basically hopping up and down about an aircraft taking off. Stop lads, you’re an embarrassment. Virgin is notorious in failure. Remember when Branson tried to cross the Atlantic in a giant condom? – and it burst.

    598
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    Mute Kárl
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    Jan 10th 2023, 8:41 AM

    @Terry Fagan: Sure don’t you know, a virgin never goes all the way.

    272
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    Mute Stephen Deegan
    Favourite Stephen Deegan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 11:00 AM

    @Terry Fagan: Poor old sky news. The French have an entire launch pad facility in Guiana. But then again, why should the facts stand in the way of a good story.

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Jan 10th 2023, 2:49 PM

    @Terry Fagan: they are just as biased towards their own perceived greatness as BBC

    17
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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:08 AM

    The North Koreans would have a better chance of a successful launch.

    217
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    Mute James Mccartan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 9:30 AM

    Word is it was taken out by harry kane’s penalty kick

    153
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    Mute Paul Jude Redmond
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    Jan 9th 2023, 10:42 PM

    DUCK!!!

    127
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Jan 9th 2023, 10:45 PM

    @Paul Jude Redmond: orange!

    39
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    Mute SPQH
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    Jan 10th 2023, 11:17 AM

    @Paul Jude Redmond: “Crashed and Burned, Mav, huh?”

    9
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    Mute Ronan Lawler
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:52 PM

    Not looking good, apparently suffered an anomaly

    91
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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:18 AM

    @Ronan Lawler: Yeah, looking like a failed mission. Probably the WiFi they used ;~}

    156
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    Mute veronikahladova
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    Jan 9th 2023, 10:50 PM

    I hope no rocket debris falls and kills any wildlife, if it does I hope the wildlife doesn’t die or get maimed, if it does get maimed I hope virgin cleans up the mess

    96
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    Mute James Kerins
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    Jan 10th 2023, 8:15 AM

    @veronikahladova: You’re very hopeful….

    141
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    Mute David Terry
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:14 AM

    @veronikahladova: I think the fish will be fine..

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    Mute ΛПĐY
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    Jan 10th 2023, 5:58 PM

    @David Terry: I’m hearing reports that an unconfirmed number of fish have applied for a self funded space exploration program themselves. And hope to deploy an anti rocket anomaly surveillance system. In case it happens again.

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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:27 PM

    That must be the worst coverage of a major event I’ve seen (or didn’t see) pathetic.

    152
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:30 PM

    @Kevin O’Brien: Tracked the plane on Flight Radar.

    52
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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:34 PM

    @Dave Barrett: Same. And tried to follow it on YouTube too, but that was just awful. Talk about doing things wrong.

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    Mute Tom Quinn
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:50 PM

    @Kevin O’Brien: It was live in Sky News and the BBC 24 hour News channel.

    A lot of begrudgery vibes there fella.

    57
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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:09 AM

    @Tom Quinn: Why would I be begrudging? Virgin had a dedicated YouTube channel, you know the people who were actually launching it & it was an absolute shambles. Thrilled you saw it on both BBC4 & SKY News “fella”

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    Mute Tom Quinn
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:34 AM

    @Kevin O’Brien: Well, if Virgin can mess up something technical they will.

    They can’t even manage a decent WIFI signal on Earth.

    43
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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:51 AM

    @Tom Quinn: That’s very very true, can’t argue with that tbf, haha. It’s a failed mission now (unsurprisingly) Gives them a chance to fix things & I’m not on about the rocket.

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    Mute Terry Fagan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 1:41 AM

    @Kevin O’Brien: it was dire.

    22
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    Mute Terry Fagan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 1:42 AM

    @Dave Barrett: so did I but the mup0et reporting for Sky News said he didn’t know where it was! Woeful coverage.

    41
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    Mute Pat O'Leary
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    Jan 10th 2023, 7:54 AM

    I reckon Brexit doomed it to failure.

    67
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    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
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    Jan 10th 2023, 8:11 AM

    @Pat O’Leary: Somehow I can see the UK papers blaming the EU!!!!

    151
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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jan 9th 2023, 11:00 PM

    I’ll never ever buy a cd in virgin records again oh wait!

    66
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    Mute Aidy McBride
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:12 AM

    @Paul Gorry: ah those were the days Paul, CD’s, alco pops, United on top. A much simpler time.

    23
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    Mute Patrick Fitzgibbon
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:02 AM

    UK is choc a block with anomalies presently

    51
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    Mute billy bound
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    Jan 10th 2023, 8:22 AM

    Imagine ireland trying though!

    42
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    Mute Tomás Barrett
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    Jan 10th 2023, 9:59 AM

    @billy bound: there would be a man on the moon today.

    46
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    Mute Steve O'Hara-Smith
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    Jan 10th 2023, 8:11 PM

    @Tomás Barrett: and one on the sun tonight.

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    Mute James Kenley
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:13 AM

    Boldly going where no virgin has gone before. Down!

    52
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    Mute John Moylan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 9:32 AM

    should have name it:
    The Good Ship Brexit.
    The SS Taking Back Control.
    The You Can Sign Out But You Can Never Leave (Earth)……..with apologies to the Eagles.

    31
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    Mute Tom Hogarty
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:00 AM

    I was disappointed that the rocket attempt failed, the technology is old enough and has been well tested. But it demonstrates that projects do fail and unexpectedly! I was also expecting to see the headline, Britain Fires Rocket Into The Sea Off The South of Ireland. Well, Dyson famously experienced many hundreds of failures as he developed a product that really sucks, onward and, err, upward, I guess?

    35
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    Mute Keth Warsaw
    Favourite Keth Warsaw
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:08 PM

    @Tom Hogarty: Like Dyson, it ran out if power far too early.

    14
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    Mute Dave McAuliffe
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    Jan 10th 2023, 9:08 AM

    So the launch only went half way?

    19
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    Mute Keth Warsaw
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    Jan 10th 2023, 12:04 PM

    Don’t know which is worse: Virgin Orbit or Virgin TV.

    12
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    Mute Sean Shanahan
    Favourite Sean Shanahan
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    Jan 10th 2023, 10:58 AM

    Maybe they can reboot it.

    7
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    Mute Pj Browne
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    Jan 10th 2023, 1:59 PM

    They can’t do a thing right

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Jan 10th 2023, 2:54 PM

    was it only 1960s NASA that could really get things done?

    1
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