Trump told May he hasn’t made final decision on tariffs: report

President Trump told British Prime Minister Theresa May this week that he has not made a final decision on whether to put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, according to The New York Times.

Trump reportedly made the comments during a phone call with May on Sunday. 

A Downing Street spokeswoman on Sunday said the prime minister told the president that “multilateral action was the only way to resolve the problem of global overcapacity in all parties’ interests.”

{mosads}A source told the Times that Trump said he disagreed with May. 

Trump caught the international community off guard last week when he said he would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum. {mosads}

Critics have said the action, which has put the U.S. at odds with some of its major allies, could lead to a trade war.

The issue is of concern to the United Kingdom due to the country’s steel industry. 

“This would be a unilateral, and extremely blunt, approach to what is a complex global problem of overcapacity in the steel sector,” Richard Warren, head of policy at U.K. Steel, said in a statement.

The European Union also responded, saying they would consider placing tariffs on U.S. goods such as Levi’s jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon. 

Trump responded in a tweet last week. 

If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2018

The World Trade Organization’s Director-General Roberto Azevêdo condemned the move, saying it could result in a trade war. 

“In light of recent announcements on trade policy measures, it is clear that we now see a much higher and real risk of triggering an escalation of trade barriers across the globe. We cannot ignore this risk and I urge all parties to consider and reflect on this situation very carefully,” Azevêdo said.