BRUSSELS - The United States would have no legal basis to take counter-sanctions if the European Union takes retaliatory measures in June against U.S. steel tariffs, a senior EU trade official said Monday.þþ``My immediate reaction is that there would be absolutely no legal basis for that,'' Roderick Abbott, deputy head of the Commission's trade directorate general, told a briefing.þþAbbott was speaking in response to a threat by an unnamed U.S. trade official who was quoted by Monday's Financial Times saying Washington would impose its own sanctions if the EU slapped duties of 100 percent on a range of U.S. goods from June.þþThe EU's executive European Commission proposed the trade sanctions after the United States imposed duties in March of up to 30 percent on a range of steel products.þþAbbott said the United States would have to go through normal World Trade Organization procedures if it wanted to challenge the EU measures.þ þþ þ
