That WTO rules can be bent if you are a big enough stick.
His tariffs on steel and aluminium have been imposed using the national security loophole in the WTO rules.
The EU are now looking to impose similar tariffs in self protection. This could, in the short term, be a big bonus for the Port Talbot workers as it will significantly reduce Chinese steel imports into the UK and the EU. In the longer term the UK will be damaged because we actually export more to China than we suck in from steel and aluminium. So the EU reaction may hurt the UK more than the mainstream EU.
The interesting point was that the EU is using the "short term" rules to protect themselves from the impact of the Trump action (i.e. that China might flood the EU with metal products intended for the US), because, they say, any challenge in the WTO could take "years" to resolve. I note that the "short term" tariffs the EU brought in for solar products are still in force, years later.
This is quite interesting because everyone told the UK government that we couldn't impose tariffs on the EU, outside of WTO rules because we "were not allowed to". Interesting how the story changes.....
Trump, yet again, is continuing on his trail of implementing his campaign promises. I'm pretty certain that when he goes for re-election, one of his main claims to fame will be that he implemented every single one of his promises, unlike any other previous incumbent of the office.
Well we never wanted a dull life did we???