German business leaders react to U.S. steel tariffs with fury

BERLIN, May 31 (Xinhua) -- German business leaders on Thursday reacted furiously to the U.S. newly announcement of imposing higher tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the European Union.

"German steel industry condemns the step taken by the U.S., " Hans Jurgen Kerkhoff, president of German Steel Federation, expressed anger in a statement.

He continued that the U.S. latest measures were protectionist intervention to the international trade and were against all the fundamentals of WTO.

The German steel representative's fury was echoed by his fellow citizen Eric Schweitzer, president of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) .

"The U.S. has broken the international law by imposing penalty tariff on its closest allies." Schweitzer said in a statement.

There will only be losers: U.S. consumers, EU companies as well as the U.S. position as a production location, he added.

The most influential business leader criticized the U.S. excuse for introduction of the steel and aluminum tariffs, namely "national security", as "far-fetched".

According to the U.S. government's latest decision, the EU's exception from import duties of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum that were first imposed in March, will come to an end on June 1.

Market observers said this could cost EU companies billions of euros.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called it "a bad day for world trade", promised to introduce immediately a settlement dispute with the WTO and threatened with retaliation.

Before, Juncker proposed to impose tariffs on 3.4 billion worth of U.S. imports, including Levis' jeans and Harley Davidson HOG motorcycles.

About EU's counter balancing measure, Schweizer, however, was cautious. He thought, what the EU should do now is trying to limit the losses. Enditem