GENEVA, March 14: The EU Commission and the United States will open talks here on Tuesday on European objections to tariffs to be introduced by Washington on most steel imports, the European Union said on Thursday.

The talks will be held as the first step in a procedure laid down in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) agreement on safeguards, diplomatic sources said here.

Under the agreement, the EU could seek compensation matching the level of harm that its steel exports will sustain under the US measures.

If the talks fail, the EU may under certain conditions take retaliatory action on imported US products to the EU. This could happen within three months of the US safeguard measures being applied on March 20.

Under WTO rules, consultations must begin before the safeguard measures are introduced and can last up to 30 days from the European’s complaint being lodged.

Other WTO members — Brazil, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — have also filed complaints over the US measures on steel with the WTO.

But their own consultations must be carried out separately of the US-EU talks.

The EU is also the only WTO member to have asked Washington for consulations on the conformity of its measures with global trade rules under the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism.

The first step in this procedure is also consultations, which in the case of a failure in the allocated 60 days, would be followed by a request by the EU for a panel of experts to be set up to look into the case.

But diplomatic sources said the US has not yet responded to the EU’s request on this matter and no date or place has been scheduled for the start of consultations.

In this procedure, other WTO members could join the EU in its complaint. Past cases before the WTO have involved multiple complainants.—AFP