EU Ready to Impose Sanctions in Steel Case

The European Union will move quickly to impose economic sanctions on the United States if it receives a favorable ruling next week from the World Trade Organization in a bitter trade dispute involving steel, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said.

“If the United States does not move, retaliation is a racing certainty in mid-December,” Lamy said in a speech to a Washington audience after two days of discussions with the Bush administration and congressional leaders.

The EU has threatened to impose $2.2 billion in sanctions on imports from America if the U.S. does not remove steep tariffs on steel that President Bush imposed in March 2002 in an effort to give the beleaguered U.S. steel industry breathing room to reorganize.