The European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade motion with recent duties on U.S. industrial and farm products, responding inside hours to the Trump administration’s increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%.
The world’s biggest trading bloc was expecting the U.S. tariffs and ready upfront, however the measures still place great strain on already tense transatlantic relations. Only last month, Washington warned Europe that it could must maintain its own security in the long run.
The EU measures will cover goods from america value some 26 billion euros ($28 billion), and not only steel and aluminum products, but additionally textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans shall be hit, as they were during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The EU duties aim for pressure points within the U.S. while minimizing additional damage to Europe. The tariffs — taxes on imports — primarily goal Republican-held states, hitting soybeans in House speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana, but additionally beef and poultry in Kansas and Nebraska. Produce in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia can be on the list.
The EU moves to guard itself
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press release that the bloc “will all the time remain open to negotiation.”
“Because the U.S. are applying tariffs value 28 billion dollars, we’re responding with countermeasures value 26 billion euros,” she said. The commission manages trade and industrial conflicts on behalf of the 27 member EU countries.
“We firmly imagine that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it just isn’t in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” von der Leyen said.
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Trump said his taxes would help create U.S. factory jobs, but von der Leyen said: “Jobs are at stake. Prices will go up. In Europe and in america.”
“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They’re bad for business, and even worse for consumers. These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They create uncertainty for the economy,” she said.
American business group urges talks
The American Chamber of Commerce to the EU said the U.S. tariffs and EU countermeasures “will only harm jobs, prosperity and security on each side of the Atlantic.”
“The 2 sides must de-escalate and discover a negotiated consequence urgently,” the chamber said Wednesday.
What is going to actually occur?
Trump slapped similar tariffs on EU steel and aluminum during his first term in office, which enraged European and other allies. The EU also imposed countermeasures in retaliation on the time, raising tariffs on U.S.-made motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans, amongst other items.
This time, the EU motion will involve two steps. First,on April 1, the commission will reintroduce what it calls “rebalancing measures,” which the EU had from 2018 and 2020 but which were suspended under the Biden administration. Then on April 13 come the extra duties targeting 18 billion euros ($19.6 billion) in U.S. exports to the bloc.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič traveled to Washington last month in an effort to go off the tariffs, meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other top trade officials.
He said on Wednesday that it became clear throughout the trip “that the EU just isn’t the issue.”
“I argued to avoid the unnecessary burden of measures and countermeasures, but you wish a partner for that. You would like each hands to clap,” Šefčovič told reporters on the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
European steel firms brace for losses
The EU could lose as much as 3.7 million tons of steel exports, in line with the European steel association Eurofer. The U.S. is the second biggest export marketplace for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the entire EU steel exports.
The EU estimates that annual trade volume between each side stands at about $1.5 trillion, representing some 30% of world trade. While the bloc has a considerable export surplus in goods, it says that’s partly offset by the U.S. surplus within the trade of services.
Britain, which isn’t a part of the EU, meanwhile said it won’t impose retaliatory measures of its own on the U.S. British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Wednesday he would “proceed to have interaction closely and productively with the U.S. to press the case for U.K. business interests.”
He didn’t rule out future tariffs on U.S. imports, saying “we are going to keep all options on the table and won’t hesitate to reply within the national interest.”
McHugh reported from Frankfurt. Associated Press author Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
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