FILE PHOTO - European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom addresses the European Parliament during a debate on the US decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium in Strasbourg, France March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on Thursday she was hopeful that the United States would exempt the European Union from steel and aluminum tariffs.

Malmstrom met U.S. officials, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, to seek an exemption. President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement later on Thursday concerning tariffs.

“I hope that he (Ross) will recommend the exclusion of the EU as a whole to the president. President Trump will make an announcement on possible exclusions. We expect that we are on that list,” Malmstrom told the trade committee of the European Parliament.

“It is the president who decides this... but we expect that Secretary Ross will recommend that the EU is excluded as a whole,” she continued.