Mubasher: The European Union (EU) on Wednesday warned that it would take serious safeguard actions against the US in case of putting the Trump administration's porposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum into effect.

The EU will escalate the issue to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and coordinate with other trade partners to implement drastic measures such as imposing higher charges over imports from the US, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said at a press conference in Brussels.

"There are indications that President Trump, very soon, in the coming days, we don't know for sure, may sign-off a decision on import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, which he announced on 1 March," Malmstrom added.

The European trade commissioner further pointed out that the EU prepared a list of the US products that could suffer higher taxes worth up to EUR 2.83 billion ($3.52 billion) as a response to Trump’s decision.

"Certain types of bourbon is indeed on the list as is other items, such as peanut butter and cranberries, orange juice, etc," she stated, noting that the list will be made public “very soon”.