ISTANBUL
European stock markets ended Wednesday up as the US’ 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports took effect and the EU retaliated with counter-measures.
The European Commission announced Wednesday that the suspended “rebalancing measures” against US President Donald Trump’s 2018 tariff moves during his first term will be imposed.
It said: “Since the new US tariffs are significantly broader in scope and affect a significantly higher value of European trade, the Commission launched on March 12 the process to impose additional countermeasures on the US.
“These will target approximately €18 billion (around $19.6 billion) worth of goods, which will then apply together with the reimposed measures from 2018. The objective is to ensure that the total value of the EU measures corresponds to the increased value of trade impacted by the new US tariffs.”
The US’ better-than-expected cooling down of inflation also impacted the stocks, with an annual rate of 2.8% in February.
The markets expected the figure to come in at 2.9%, as tariffs increased the expectations for rising inflation in the country.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.81% or 4.37 points to 541.25.
Germany’s DAX 40 index grew 1.56%, or 347.65 points, to 22,676.41, while Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.53% —44.98 points — to 8,540.97.
France’s CAC 40 also climbed 0.59%, or 47.05 points, to 7,988.96, and Italy’s FTSE MIB 30 index soared 1.61% to 38,307.11 in a 608.8-point rise.
