EU says to respond if U.S. imposes punitive steel measures

[July 07, 2017]  HAMBURG (Reuters) - The European Union will respond if the United States imposes punitive tariffs on steel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday at the G20 summit in Hamburg.
 

President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker arrives for the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

"Should the U.S. introduce tariffs on European steel imports, Europe is ready to react immediately and adequately," Juncker told reporters.

In a dig at U.S. President Donald Trump, he said that a new EU-Japan trade deal signed on Thursday showed that Europeans were not putting up "protectionist walls".

(Reporting by Noah Barkin in Hamburg and Elizabeth Miles in Brussels; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)

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