Meanwhile, South Korea has also condemned the tariffs on washing machines and solar panels, with Seoul set to complain to the WTO over the "excessive" move.

The tariffs on washing machines will deal a heavy blow to South Korea's Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. Together they ship between 2.5 million to 3 million washing machines annually to the United States, with sales of around one billion US dollars. They also hold a quarter of a U.S. market dominated by Whirlpool and GE. Samsung and LG expressed concern over the tariffs, saying they would hurt U.S. consumers and jobs. Europe also said on Tuesday it regretted the U.S. decision, and would not hesitate to react if EU exports were hit by the tariffs.