Norway Firmly Opposes New US Tariffs

Norway on Friday protested against a new wave of US tariffs imposed by Washington on its key trading partners, complaining that they were higher for the Scandinavian country than for the EU.

The new US tariffs targeting 60 trading partners took effect Friday, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Norway faces tariffs of 12.5 percent on a number of products, while EU exports to the US will be slapped with levies of 10 percent.

"We are firmly opposed to the United States's unilateral use of customs duties against Norway and other countries," said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

"We also dispute the justification put forward by the United States for imposing these new duties," he said.

Barth Eide said that Oslo had urged Washington to ensure that its products were treated on an equal footing with other European products.

The United States accounts for less than five percent of Norway's exports of goods, according to official statistics, but represents an important market for seafood products, including Norwegian salmon.

The European Union expressed relief over the new tariff regime following concerns of possible retaliation to a massive fine that Brussels had slapped on US giant Google.

"The EU notes positively the fact that this outcome is in line with the US tariff commitments agreed under the EU-US Joint Statement," European Commission spokesman Olof Gill said earlier in Brussels.