Barring Progress in Trade Talks, EU Plans for Retaliatory Tariffs on American Commodities

European Union leaders on Wednesday made it clear they will hit back hard if President Trump backs off his promise to pause plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on the continent’s exports.Members of the bloc voted Wednesday to set their own 25 percent tariffs on a slew of US commodities, expected to include steel, aluminum, tobacco, almonds, orange juice, poultry, and soybeans.The final list of products was not immediately made public, but they were set to go into effect on April 15, with another tranche set to commence on May 15 unless EU leaders change their minds after Mr. Trump’s pause.“The EU considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy. The EU has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the US, which would be balanced and mutually beneficial,” the European Commission said in a statement.Hungary was the only EU member bold enough to buck the trend, voting against the planned retaliation. The rest of the EU said they were willing to make strategic concessions to avoid further escalation if necessary later.France, Ireland, and Italy successfully lobbied to have U.S. bourbon removed from the target list after Mr. Trump threatened a jaw-dropping 200 percent counter-tariff on European alcohol.The EU’s trade spokesman, Olof Gill, said on X before Mr. Trump’s announcement that the union’s tariffs “can be suspended at any time should the U.S. agree to a fair & balanced negotiated outcome.”The EU trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, said on Monday that the tariffs initially proposed by Mr. Trump would have hit $420 billion worth of EU exports to the United States.“To put it in perspective, that’s over 80 billion euros in duties, an eleven-fold jump from the 7 billion [euros] the U.S. currently collects,” Mr. Sefcovic said. The European Commission reported that a staggering 70 percent of all EU exports to the United States threatened to be ensnared by Mr. Trump’s tariffs.Depending on the outcome of negotiations between the two trading partners, the EU is already crafting a third wave of countermeasures that would commence at the end of the year.“We are prepared to respond,” warned European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Yet she held out hope for those negotiations, adding, “It’s not too late to address concerns through talks.”

Barring Progress in Trade Talks, EU Plans for Retaliatory Tariffs on American Commodities

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