The 27-member bloc says Washington’s newest threats in opposition to its exports are ‘completely unacceptable’.
The European Union has promised to take countermeasures in opposition to the USA if the administration of US President Donald Trump introduces 30 p.c tariffs on imports from the bloc subsequent month.
After ministers met in Brussels on Monday to debate the tariff menace Trump issued over the weekend, the EU’s commerce consultant Maros Sefcovic stated such a transfer by Washington could be “completely unacceptable”.
Sefcovic stated the 27-nation bloc, which is the US’s largest enterprise companion, needed to achieve an settlement via negotiations.
“I’m completely one hundred pc certain {that a} negotiated resolution is significantly better than the stress which we would have after August 1,” he advised reporters in Belgium, including that “we should be ready for all outcomes”.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the international minister of Denmark, which at the moment holds the presidency of the EU, bolstered the identical message.
“The EU stays able to react and that features strong and proportionate countermeasures if required and there was a robust feeling within the room of unity,” he stated.
As a part of its preparations, Italy’s International Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that the EU had drawn up plans to focus on US items value $24.5bn.
Trump’s newest commerce warfare escalation has alarmed European politicians and companies working in Europe.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has stated such excessive US duties would “hit the German export business to the core”.
In the meantime, the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, a bunch that represents main US corporations within the EU, stated Trump’s plan may “generate damaging ripple results throughout all sectors of the EU and US economies”.
Amid the uncertainty, European shares fell on Monday, with automobile and alcohol shares amongst these worst affected.
Talking from the Oval Workplace of the White Home on Monday, Trump stated he was nonetheless prepared to speak with commerce companions, together with the EU, as he seemed to spice up the US financial system and revitalise home manufacturing.
After focusing on dozens of nations with so-called “reciprocal tariffs” in April, the US president paused them for 90 days to barter particular person agreements.
In addition to focusing on the EU final week, Trump additionally threatened to deliver 25 p.c tariffs in opposition to Japan and South Korea, 30 p.c tariffs in opposition to Mexico, and 35 p.c tariffs in opposition to Canada.