BRUSSELS, March 8: European Union policymakers are convinced: US President George W. Bush’s controversial decision to slap steep tariffs on imports of foreign steel is not just about trade. It is America once again — going into what EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten recently denounced as a “unilateralist overdrive.”
“The world steel market is not the Wild West where anyone can do what he pleases,” European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy raged in Brussels this week. “This is a case where the US has put domestic political interests over international rules.”
Leaders across the bloc have condemned the US move as unacceptable, warning that protectionism will not help America’s steel industry to fight off competition from European and Asian rivals. Lamy fumes that Washington’s disregard for World Trade Organization rules augurs badly for the new trade liberalization talks just opened in Geneva. Europeans are clearly also outraged at Washington’s decision to hit hardest at its European allies while sparing Mexico and Canada, its partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
But Europe’s anger goes beyond trade and fears of another mighty transatlantic trade quarrel. For many in Brussels and other EU capitals, the steel tariffs are a clear sign that when it comes to the crunch, the Bush Administration is quick to jettison multilateral rules for unilateral action. And more than ever before in Washington, domestic political concerns are getting precedence over America’s international commitments.
American steel firms have been calling for protection against foreign competitors for years, says Trade Commissioner Lamy. Former American president Bill Clinton managed to resist industry pressure. But President Bush decided to play a “domestic political game,” says the EU trade chief.
The EU has lost no time in lodging complaints against the US measures at the WTO and officials have made clear that Brussels will impose its own safeguards against any influx of foreign steel diverted to the EU market because of America’s high tariffs.
The latest trade quarrel, however, is not the only reason for growing EU unease over American policy. Following President Bush’s “axis of evil” declarations last month, many in Europe are discovering that their post-Sept 11 promise to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with America has turned into a trying burden.
EU officials are adamant they will continue to work with the US in fighting Al-Qaeda groups in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But, with perhaps British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the only exception, Europeans make no secret of their opposition to extending the war against terror to include Iraq.
A spate of top EU policymakers, including Commissioner Patten, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and Germany’s Joschka Fischer have publicly chided Washington in recent weeks for espousing a simplistic view of the world and treating Europeans as little more than “satellite” nations.
Fighting terrorism must involve efforts to tackle the “darker sides of globalisation — poverty, drug trafficking and autocratic regimes,” says Patten. Fischer, reflecting EU frustration at being sidelined by the US, has warned that “a world with 6 billion people will not be led into a peaceful future by the mightiest power alone.” Similar sentiments are voiced in Brussels by diplomats who contrast Europe’s “softer, civilian” power with America’s military strength and insist that both are necessary to ensure global peace.
Despite President Bush’s decision this week to re-engage in efforts to end escalating Middle East violence, EU diplomats are especially worry that America’s hitherto unstinting support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s hardline policies and US criticism of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is leading the region into outright war.
EU leaders recognise that the world’s one and only superpower is not always ready to listen to its European allies on key foreign policy issues. “All we can do is try and influence policymakers in Washington,” said one European diplomat. “Other than that we have no direct leverage.”
But Europe’s own messy and multi-voiced common foreign policy makes it easy for America to ignore EU concerns and play one country against another. European leaders are adamant that the EU must be taken seriously as a global player. But to make that happen, the 15 EU governments will have to work harder to coordinate their words and actions.