Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Member states of the European Union are expected to present a common front in the coming days against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, likely endorsing a first set of tariffs on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from dental floss to diamonds, Reuters reported.
According to sources, such an action would signify the EU joining China and Canada in levying retaliatory tariffs on the US in an early escalation of what some worry will become a global trade war, making goods more costly for billions of consumers and driving economies around the world into recession.
European Union faces 25% import tariffs on steel and aluminium, and cars, and “Reciprocal” tariffs of 20% will start on Wednesday for nearly all others goods. Trump’s tariffs affect approximately 70% of the EU’s exports to the United States, totaling 532 billion euros ($585 billion) last year. Additional duties on copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and timber are expected soon.
How will the EU respond to US tariffs on steel?
As reported by Reuters, the European Commission will present to members late on Monday a list of U.S. products. The products to target with extra duties in reaction to Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs, rather than the more general reciprocal levies.
It will feature U.S. products like meat, cereals, wine, wood, clothing, chewing gum, dental floss, vacuum cleaners, and toilet paper.
Bourbon is a product that has attracted significant attention and revealed divisions within the bloc. The Commission has allocated a 50% tariff, encouraging Trump to threaten a 200% counter-tariff on European Union alcoholic drinks if the EU goes ahead.
How do EU diplomats view the US trade dispute?
EU diplomats expressed that the purpose of the meeting was to present a united message of a desire to talk with the US about the removal of tariffs, but a willingness to respond with countermeasures if that did not succeed.
“Our biggest fear after Brexit was bilateral deals and a break of unity, but through three or four years of negotiations, that did not happen. Of course, here you have a different story, but everyone can see an interest in a common commercial policy,” one EU diplomat expressed.
Paris has said the European Union should work on a strategy going well beyond tariffs, and French President Emmanuel Macron has urged European institutions should pause investments in the US until “things are clarified”.
Ireland has urged a “considered and measured” response, while Italy, the EU’s third-largest exporter to the U.S., wonders whether the EU should respond at all.
“It’s a difficult balance. Measures cannot be too soft to bring the United States to the table, but not too tough to lead to escalation,”
one EU diplomat expressed.
On Wednesday, the initial EU counter-tariffs will be voted on and are expected to pass, barring an unlikely occurrence that a qualified majority of 15 EU members, 65% of the EU population is against it. They will be implemented in two phases: a smaller portion on April 15, followed by the remainder a month later.
