EU hits back hard at Trump tariffs to force dialogue

A worker helps stack steel rods at a wholesale steel market in Shenyang, in China's northeast Liaoning province on February 19, 2025. [AFP]

The EU put on a quick show of force Wednesday against sweeping new US steel and aluminium tariffs, striking back with countermeasures that seek to hurt the United States and force it to the negotiating table.

President Donald Trump's 25-percent levies took effect just after midnight struck in Washington, "with no exceptions or exemptions", as promised by the White House -- despite countries' efforts to avert them.