The EU Commission on Tuesday said it will present plans to make Europe's ailing steel sector more competitive and to shield it from looming U.S. trade tariffs in the spring. Its action plan will follow a 'strategic dialogue' with key representatives of the sector chaired by commission president Ursula von der Leyen on March 4.

The European Union has vowed to take firm and proportionate countermeasures in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.

The European Union is broadening the list of US goods it will target with retaliatory tariffs if US President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose duties on steel and aluminum exports,

CommSec Market Analyst Laura Besarati says US President Donald Trump is out with a “new tariff announcement” every second day.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel imports are mostly driven by concerns that China is glutting global markets and hurting U.S. manufacturing, a former trade adviser to the White House said.

The European Union estimates that the first wave of Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs will hit as much as €28 billion ($29.3 billion) of the bloc’s exports in what would be a massive escalation in the US president’s trade war.