1.   American officials have already begun discussions with the Europeans and with other countries, including China, over the steel tariffs and demands for compensation.

2.   Australia, Brazil, China, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan have also lodged formal complaints about the steel tariffs.

3.   European Union trade officials have also warned that the World Trade Organization has given them the right to impose retaliatory sanctions if Bush imposes steel tariffs.

4.   In addition to being bad economics, the steel tariffs are terrible diplomacy.

5.   In sheer economic terms, the steel tariff is not that big a deal.

6.   On Wednesday, European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy warned that a high steel tariff would spark trade retaliation from Europe and other U.S. trading partners.

7.   The Bush steel tariffs probably fail that test, trade lawyers said.

8.   The European Union immediately announced plans to attack any new steel tariffs at the World Trade Organization, which has international authority as a court in such trade disputes.

9.   The steel tariffs and threats of retaliation come as another trans-Atlantic trade dispute also reaches a head.

10.   U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick confirmed that analysis this week when he told Brazilian business leaders that politics was behind the steel tariffs.