Europe will not hesitate to retaliate if Donald Trump imposes any new tariffs, the European Commission and EU national leaders have said, after the US president announced another escalation of his aggressive trade policy at the weekend.

Trump said he would announce on Monday 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports that would affect “everybody”, adding that reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US would follow on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The European Commission said on Monday it would respond to protect EU interests, but had not so far received any official notification of additional US tariffs on EU goods and would not react to “broad announcements” without details or written clarification. “The EU sees no justification for the imposition of tariffs on its exports. We will react to protect the interests of European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified measures,” the bloc’s executive body said.

In general, the imposition of tariffs “would be unlawful and economically counterproductive”, it said, adding: “Tariffs are essentially taxes. By imposing tariffs, the US would be taxing its own citizens, raising costs for business, and fuelling inflation.”

A European Commission spokesperson later added that the reciprocal tariffs Washington was proposing were also unjustified. “We believe that none of the potential measures outlined by the US administration to date are justified,” they said.

Trump’s move, if carried out, would mirror his action in his first term when he imposed 25% tariffs on steel from many countries as well as 10% tariffs on aluminium. For the EU, that covered about €6.4bn (£5.3bn) worth of exports.

The bloc responded then with tariffs on €2.8bn of US goods including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, bourbon whiskey and denim jeans. Plans to apply tariffs to a further €3.6bn of US goods after three years were dropped when Joe Biden was elected president.

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