NEW YORK, United States — America's decision to hit allies with billions of dollars in tariffs will have consequences far beyond aluminium and steel, Levi Strauss & Co. warned lawmakers today.

The comments precede threatened tit-for-tat tariffs from the European Union on U.S. goods such as jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the U.S. will levy duties on imported metals from the EU, Mexico and Canada starting Friday.

“As an American business with an international footprint and a complex global supply chain, we support open markets and free trade where everyone plays by the rules,” Levi Strauss said in an emailed statement. “Unilateral tariff impositions risk retaliation and destabilising the global economy, in which case American brands, workers and consumers will ultimately suffer.”

The company pledged to work with its industry peers to bring the issue to the attention of U.S. and EU authorities on “how these decisions will impact not just our business but consumers and the millions of people across our supply chain.”

By Lindsey Rupp; editors: Anne Riley Moffat, Jonathan Roeder and Kevin Miller.