The European Union on Wednesday announced a commercial action of retaliation with new tariffs on the US industrial and agricultural products.
The world's largest commercial block was to wait for the US rates. And prepare in advance, but the measures still exert great tension in the transatlantic relationships already tense. Only last month, Washington warned Europe that he would have to take care of his own security in the future.
The EU measures will cover assets of the United States worth about 26 billion euros ($ 28 billion), and not only steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, appliances and agricultural products. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans will be hit, as were during the first mandate of President Donald Trump.
The duties of the EU point to the pressure points in the US. UU. While minimizing additional damage to Europe. Tariffs, import taxes, are mainly directed to the states controlled by Republicans, hitting the soy in the Louisiana of the president of the Mike Johnson representatives, but also of beef and birds in Kansas and Nebraska. The product in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia are also on the list.
The EU moves to protect
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement that the block “will always remain open to negotiation.”
“As the United States is applying rates worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” he said. The Commission manages commercial and commercial conflicts on behalf of the 27 EU member countries.
“We firmly believe that in a world full of geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not of common interest to load our economies with tariffs,” said Von der Leyen.
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Trump said his taxes would help create factory work in the United States, but von der Leyen said: “The works are at stake. Prices will rise. In Europe and in the United States. “
“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and the worst for consumers. These rates are interrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy, ”he said.
American Business Group urges conversations
The EU US Chamber of Commerce said that the US tariffs and EU countermeasures “will only damage jobs, prosperity and security on both sides of the Atlantic.”
“The two parties must decrease and find a negotiated result urgently,” said the camera on Wednesday.
What really will happen?
Trump slapped similar tariffs on steel and EU aluminum during his first mandate, which enraged European allies and others. The EU also imposed against retaliation at that time, raising tracts in motorcycles made in the United States, Bourbon, peanut butter and jeans, among other items.
This time, the EU action will involve two steps. First, on April 1, the Commission will reintroduce what it calls “re -quilibrium measures”, which the EU had of 2018 and 2020, but were suspended under the Biden administration. Then, on April 13, additional rights led to 18 billion euros ($ 19.6 billion) are produced in US exports to the block.
The EU Commissioner of Commerce Maroš šefčovič traveled to Washington last month in an effort to avoid rates, meeting with the Secretary of Commerce of the United States Howard Lutnick and other senior commercial officials.
He said Wednesday that it was clear during the trip “that the EU is not the problem.”
“I argued to avoid the unnecessary load of measures and countermeasures, but you need a partner for that. You need both hands to applaud, ”said šefčovič to the journalists of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
European steel companies are prepared for losses
The EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons of steel exports, according to the European Eurofer Steel Association. The United States is the second largest export market for EU steel producers, which represents 16% of the EU's total steel exports.
The EU estimates that the annual commercial volume between both sides is approximately $ 1.5 billion, representing about 30% of global trade. While the block has a substantial export surplus in goods, he says he is partially compensated by the surplus of the United States in the service of services.
Meanwhile, Great Britain, who is not part of the EU, said he will not impose his own retaliation measures in the British Secretary of the United States, Jonathan Reynolds, said Wednesday that “it would continue to be committed closely and productively with the United States to press the case of the commercial interests of the United Kingdom.”
He did not rule out future rates on US imports.
Mchugh reported from Frankfurt. Associated Press Jill Lawless writer in London contributed to this report.
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