Europe Is Ready to Make Its First Countermove to Trump Tariffs

The announcement of President Trump last week which will impose a 20 % rate on goods from the European Union have sent shock waves through the blocking of 27 nations, the last move in a commercial war that is making his close partners to pieces.

This week, Europe will go on with its first contrastino, one of the potentially different to come.

EU officials have spent the last few weeks to perfect a list of retaliation rates that plan to implement April 15. They are showing the foreign and commercial ministers of the Member States in Luxembourg on MondayAnd a vote on the list is scheduled for Wednesday.

Those rates would have been in response to steel and aluminum samples that Washington had previously announced, and should be swept; the preliminary list covered everything from whiskey and boat and soy motorcycles. But they would also be the beginning, an opening offer in Europe’s response to Mr. Trump’s tariff launch.

European officials are working on additional plans to respond to car rates which have been announced at the end of March and al Rates through 20 percent That Mr. Trump announced last week.

EU leaders are returning to the phase for two reasons. Firstly, they needed time to digest the barrage of ads that came from the White House, hoping to design an answer that would inflict the maximum pain to the United States by minimizing the repercussions for consumers and European companies.

They also hope that, gradually in their response, the time to come to the negotiation table will give the Trump Administration. The final goal is still to make an agreement to avoid a total commercial war.

“The EU is engaged in significant negotiations but also prepared to defend our interests,” wrote Maros Sefcovic, commercial commissioner of the blockade, on Friday evening on social media following what he described A “Frank”, two hours meeting with its American counterparties.

As the commercial conflict heats up, the stakes are high. The European Union is one of the most important in America commercial partnerS. and the United States are by far the largest Export market for European goods.

Given that close relationship, risking the American rates is probably a painful exercise, which also costs European companies and consumers, pushing the prices of freight rates.

European officials are aware of the fact that a growing commercial war could be painful on both sides of the Atlantic. That’s why they changed the lists: officials wanted to consider feedback from all over the continent.

The part of the list that originally included the whiskey rates initially had to take foot on March 31, but in fact, but was delayed For further improvement after Mr. Trump threatened to respond to slap a 200 % rate on all European alcohol entering the United States. Such a move would be overwhelming for French and Italian winemakers.

The delay came after the officials, including from France – He suggested that hitting whiskey and causing American retaliation to alcohol would be a false step.

That episode underlined the challenge in maintaining a company and a united front in responding to rates. The countries of the whole continent have different economic priorities and different appetites to return to the United States.

Some countries of the countries of Northern Europe have firmly convinced that the European Union must be strong in its response, but the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defined the idea that Italy must choose between the United States and the blockage “infantile. “She did it too warned against hard retaliation.

EU officials had initially hoped to completely avoid a commercial conflict.

They spent last autumn and at the beginning of this year Penzolant carrots -How are the increased purchases of American-liquid-liquid natural gas in front of their American counterparts, hoping to avoid a showdown.

But that strategy failed. Instead, Washington took a much more aggressive turn than many analysts and officials expected. This left European politicians to run to find a plan.

In particular, European leaders are thinking of returning to the exports of American services – and in particular to large technological companies such as Google who make a huge amount of EU activities.

Several European diplomats have said that the targeting of technological companies is a distinct possibility, if the commercial war intensified and a French official clarified In public observations last week that online services could be the first in crossed hair.

Yet the real goal is a deal.

Elon Musk, Technological Entrepreneur and Trump Councilor, said Saturday That he hoped that Europe and the United States would move “to a zero tariff situation, actually creating a free trade area”, speaking during a video conference apparition with the Florence Feast of Florence in Italy.

European officials have has shown a will To lower the rates on cars and other products, therefore the lowest tasks in at least some sectors are a possibility, if the United States are willing to speak.

But the resolution can take time. On Sunday, Scott Besent, the secretary of the treasure, said during a television interview that the problems with commercial partners were not the “type of things you can negotiate on days or weeks”.