The European Union could impose preliminary measures to safeguard its steel and aluminum sectors as early as July. But a full investigation could take nine months. That was the word from EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. Let's take a closer look.

European Union trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Monday that the trade bloc's WTO challenge against American tariffs on steel and aluminum is not tit-for-tat.

Under WTO rules, the EU could impose "provisional safeguard" tariffs for up to 200 days if it makes a preliminary finding that increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to its steel and aluminium sectors.

CECILIA MALMSTROM, TRADE COMMISSIONER EUROPEAN UNION "No, we are not in trade war but we could be. And that would be extremely serious if this situation escalates because I do not think trade wars are good and I don't think they are easy to win. And that is something that many countries across the world change. And I would not say 'tit-for-tat'. The European Union and other countries such as Mexico and Canada reacted last week against something that we thought was blatantly violating the WTO rules. We stand up for WTO rules so we took U.S. to the WTO. And we are also preparing a list of fully compliant WTO re-balancing measures."

U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum took effect on March 23nd and have been imposed on EU producers since Friday.

Malmstrom said that the EU could impose preliminary measures to safeguard its steel and aluminium sectors. But she said that a full investigation would take nine months.

CECILIA MALMSTROM, TRADE COMMISSIONER EUROPEAN UNION "It is not a tit-for-tat but it's a reaction that we cannot just stand passively and watch what is happening. We are being imposed trade tariffs on trade, on steel and aluminum for reasons of internal security. I fail to see how the European Union is a threat to internal security of the United States. They are our friends, our allies and we should address the core issues of this, which is overcapacity in some countries, jointly, instead of engaging in this. So the situation is serious, it can escalate, we will try to be proportionate and balanced here. But also, in defense of the multilateralism system, we need to take certain options."

US President Donald Trump has justified the tariffs by claiming national security. Malmstrom said she could not see how EU trade could possibly be a threat to the United States. She said that she regretted that Washington and Brussels have not managed to come to a settlement.