BRUSSELS, March 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Major Steel producers throughout the world have expressed their anger after U.S. President George W.Bush announced tariffs of up to 30 percent on steel imports, a move that could trigger a trade war between the United States and its trading partners.

　　On Tuesday, Bush announced tariffs on a range of steel imports,which will take effect on March 20 and stay in place for three years.

　　The U.S. decision, aimed at protecting the ailing domestic steel industry, exempted imports from Canada and Mexico because of their partnership with the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Also under WTO rules, Bush spared imports from developing countries.

　　However, the European Commission, executive arm of the European Union (EU), strongly criticized the decision, saying it would file a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. Other major producers, including Japan, Russia, South Korea and Brazil have also vowed to fight the new barriers slapped by Washington, which preaches global free trade.

　　"The U.S. decision to go down the route of protectionism is a major setback for the world trading system," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in a statement.

　　"The EU will of course launch an immediate complaint in Geneva against this clear violation of WTO rules, and we will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard our own market," Lamy said.

　　He also voiced his fear that the U.S. move would end any hope of finding an internationally agreed upon solution at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the surplus in the world steel industry.

　　The European Commission said in a statement the 15-country bloc might be forced to take trade measures of its own to protect itself from a wave of steel imports from other producers it fears may now be diverted from the United States to Europe. But added that any safeguard action would be fully in line with WTO principles.

　　The European Union and the United States are the world's two biggest trade powers. Total bilateral trade in 2000 was 373 billion U.S. dollars.

　　U.S. steel firms and labor unions have blamed cheap imports for 31 bankruptcies in the past four years, demanding a 40 percent tariff to protect the domestic industry.

　　EU officials say the U.S. woes are due to years of failure to restructure the steel sector as well as to a strong dollar, that has risen by 23 percent against the euro in two years.

　　A senior EU official described the U.S. move as part of "a trend toward unilateralism in Washington," driven by domestic politics, that are causing growing dismay in Europe.

　　Even Britain, a close ally of the United States, in a letter to Bush, urged the U.S. government not impose the tariffs.

　　 On the market, European steel stocks suffered heavy losses on Tuesday ahead of the U.S. decision. Shares in Arcelor, the world's biggest steel maker, fell by more than five percent and Anglo-Dutch group Corus dropped more than six percent on the day.

　　Echoing the European Union, Russia warned before Bush's announcement that a tariff could have a "serious impact" on Russian-U.S. relations. Brazil said it would challenge U.S. steel tariffs at the WTO. Steelmakers in South Africa and Turkey forecast a devastating effect on the world market even if their own countries were exempt.

　　The South Korean steel industry, which exported 2.1 million tons of steel to the United States last year, said the tariff would affect 80 percent of all U.S. steel imports.

　　The U.S. decision will also hit Japan, which exported 2.2 million tons of steel to the U.S. last year and is facing a slump in demand for steel in its recession-bound economy. Tokyo also joined the chorus of states threatening to take Washington to the WTO.

　　Observers predict an escalating transatlantic war on steel trade since both the EU and United States import a lot of steel, but European exports dwarf those of the American industry. EU steel imports of 25.4 million metric tons from around the globe exceeded exports by only 2.25 million metric tons. By contrast, U.S. steel imports of 38 million metric tons exceeded exports by 31.4 million metric tons.

　　The WTO ruled in the EU's favor in January in a key dispute over U.S. export subsidies in which Brussels had sought the right to impose up to 4 billion U.S. dollars in trade sanctions.

　　 The world's two biggest trade powers are also in dispute over issues ranging from hormone beef to genetically modified crops. Analysts believe that increasing U.S. unilateralism will further cause widespread anger and hurt not only its normal trading partners but also its European allies.

(Xinhuanet)