according to the last paragraph of this AP story.

The European Union plans to target its tariffs at goods that are produced in important swing states in the 2004 presidential election. It says it will start retaliating if the U.S. steel duties are still in place five days after the report has been formally adopted by the WTO, which must happen within 30 days.

If true, the EU is asking for major league trouble. Imagine the uproar if the US government actively meddled in European elections. Maybe it's time to consider how many subsidizies EU corporations like Airbus receive.

In one of his books, Tom Clancey had President Jack Ryan sign legislation that automatically mirrored the trade policies of other nations. If they had import restrictions against us, then we automatically had the exact same restrictions against them. Of course, there was an uproar over the idea that they should be treated the same as they treat us. Interesting idea in theory but I don't know how good an idea it would be in practice.