The European Union (EU) will not accept threats in negotiations with the USA to provide a permanent exemption from American import tariffs, said the President of the European Commission (EC), Jean-Claude Juncker.
"I would like to repeat the call for the exemption to be unconditional and permanent. We believe that the American measures cannot be justified on the basis of national security," Junker told the European Parliament, reports Tanjug.
Junker added that negotiations with the US will continue, but pointed out that the EU "refuses to negotiate under threat".
The EU announced on Tuesday that the US administration's decision to postpone for a month the introduction of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the Union is bad for business and that the European bloc should be granted a permanent exemption.
The US decision "prolongs uncertainty in the market, which is already having an impact on business decisions," the European Commission said in a statement.
The US announcement only delays a potential transatlantic trade war by a month, as the EU has previously warned it would respond with countermeasures if the Donald Trump administration imposes tariffs.
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