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normative: no

Retaliatory measures

A retaliatory measure is when:

Country A charges a tax on imports from Country B, so Country B responds by charging a tax on Country A's imports.

For example, the EU and US have been involved in trade conflicts relating to steel, aluminium and aerospace tariffs for several years.

In March 2018 the US imposed a tariff increase on EU imports of certain steel and aluminium products. The 25% tariff increase came into effect in June 2018 with an unlimited duration.

The EU responded by imposing a retaliatory measure of type 695. Duties have been applied to certain products that are considered important to the US economy, such as:

• maize
• fabricated machine parts
• motorcycles
• US whiskey

In the Tariff, these are shown as ‘retaliatory measures’.

In December 2020, the UK Government announced it was launching an independent approach to the conflicts. Read more detail in the press release on GOV.UK.