French President Emmanuel Macron said the European Union would impose “reciprocal tariffs” on steel and aluminium and would decide later on other products if the United States imposed 25% tariffs on European products.

The French president said during a joint press conference in Porto with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that if the US tariffs on steel and aluminium were “confirmed”, “the Europeans would respond and therefore there would be reciprocal tariffs, because we must protect ourselves, defend ourselves.”

He added, “We must not be weak in any way in the face of these measures.”

Montenegro believed that “of course Europe will have to respond to the tariffs at the same or similar level… It would not make sense not to do the same.”