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WASHINGTON, March 5 - RIA Novosti. President of the United States Donald Trump said that the country's steel and aluminum industry is dead and it is time for change.

"We lose almost all trade agreements, our friends and enemies have been benefiting from the US for many years now, our steel and aluminum industries are dead." Sorry, it's time for a change! " - wrote the US president on Twitter.

Last week, Trump said that the country introduces import duties on steel at a rate of 25% and aluminum at 10%. The measures, he said, will last for a long period of time. In addition, earlier on Friday he said that "when a country loses many billions of dollars in trade with almost every country with which it conducts business, trade wars are appropriate and easy to win."

The European Commission expressed disagreement with the new duties. It is expected that it may already on Wednesday, March 7, take a decision on the response.

According to the International Association of Steel Producers, the USA produced 81.6 million tons of steel in 2017, which is more than in 2015-2016 (78.9 and 78.5 million tons, respectively), but less than in 2011-2014 (an average of 86 to 88 million tons). According to this indicator, the United States is on the fifth place in the world, behind China, the European Union, Japan and India (Russia is in sixth place). In terms of aluminum production, the United States, in 2016, took the ninth place in the world.

Link: https://ria.ru/world/20180305/1515726616.html