The European Union said Monday it would impose tariffs on up to $4 billion worth of US goods and services over illegal aid for plane maker Boeing - but expressed hope that trade ties would improve once President Donald Trump leaves office.

The European Union is poised to move impose tariffs on $4bn of US imports in retaliation for US subsidies for planemaker Boeing, EU diplomats said, teeing up an eleventh-hour showdown with US President Donald Trump.

The US on Monday told the WTO that it regretted the EU's seeking retaliatory tariffs for Boeing subsidies, and that it favoured a "negotiated resolution" with the bloc over its subsidies to rival planemaker Airbus. The US speech, seen by Reuters, came at a meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) which gave its formal clearance on Monday for the EU to impose tariffs on $4bn of US goods.

The European Union will impose duties of up to 48% on imports of aluminium extrusions from China midway through an investigation into whether Chinese producers are selling at unfairly low prices.

United States President Donald Trump moved to reimpose 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminium products to protect US industry from a "surge" in imports, angering Ottawa and some US business groups. In response, Canada pledged retaliation.

The Trump administration on Friday announced additional duties of 25% on French cosmetics, handbags and other imports valued at $1.3bn in response to France’s digital services tax, Reuters reports. Washington would, however, hold off on implementing the move for up to 180 days.

The US Trade Representative’s office added items valued at $3.1bn to its list of European goods eligible to be hit with duties - including black olives, beer and gin - and said it could switch gears to target other items on a previously published list or raise existing duty levels further. The move is part of the latest development in the 16-year dispute over aircraft subsidies between Europe’s Airbus and US rival Boeing.

The United Kingdom announced a new post-Brexit tariff regime on Tuesday to replace the European Union’s external tariff, maintaining a 10% tariff on cars but cutting levies on tens of billions of dollars of supply chain imports.

For China the coronavirus outbreak is already having a damaging economic and business impact, affecting everything from tourism to the supply of parts to the automotive and technology industries. Stock markets have been volatile and China’s economy – which makes up one-sixth of the global economy – hammered. 

The EU will seek a reset of EU-US trade relations on a number of contentious issues, Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, was quoted as saying. He will meet his US counterpart, Robert Lighthizer, for the first time next month after talking to him just before Christmas. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminum in mid-2018. It has done the same to $7.5bn worth of EU products over a dispute about subsidies for Airbus, and is threatening action against France over a digital services tax.