GORKI, June 27. /TASS/. Russia plans to take retaliatory measures against the United States’ import duties on steel and aluminum, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
He noted that the US decisions are "discriminatory" in nature and "cannot remain without consequences." "The countries of the European Union, China have already taken reciprocal steps. We also need to think about introducing retaliatory measures, I ask the Economic Development Ministry to prepare relevant proposals," Medvedev said.
Earlier, Oreshkin said that additional import duties on goods from the US, which Russia will introduce in the near future, would only apply to products that have analogues in the Russian market. The Economic Development Ministry promised to make a list of these goods within a few days, estimating the initial amount of the Russian response at $93 mln. The entire volume of retaliatory measures that Russia can impose under the WTO rules is estimated at around $538 mln, which is equivalent to the damage from US restrictions for Russian exports of steel and aluminum.
In March 2018, the US imposed duties on imports of steel and aluminum - 25% and 10%, respectively. Fees apply to all countries that supply products to the United States. The date for imposing duties for a number of countries, including the countries of the European Union, Canada and Mexico, was postponed. However, on June 1, the duties went into effect for them.
In response, the EU countries agreed to establish 25% import duties on some US goods totaling 2.8 bln euro. India, Turkey, Mexico and other countries also announced their intention to retaliate.