EU sets out 95 billion euro countermeasures to US tariffs

[BRUSSELS] The European Commission proposed on Thursday (May 8) countermeasures on up to 95 billion euros (S$139.2 billion) of US imports if negotiations with Washington fail to remove the series of tariffs applied by US President Donald Trump.

The new measures, representing the EU’s response to US import tariffs on cars and its broader ‘reciprocal’ tariffs, would target US wine, fish, aircraft, car and car parts, chemicals, electrical equipment, health products and machinery.

The European Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27-nation EU, said it was launching a month-long consultation for EU members and business to react. It will then take a final decision on its counter-tariffs, likely to hit a smaller volume of US imports.

The announcement of a new list of products the EU may target comes on the day Trump is expected to announce a trade deal between the US and Britain.

The EU currently faces 25 per cent US import tariffs on its steel, aluminium and cars and so-called “reciprocal” tariffs of 10 per cent for almost all other goods, a levy that could rise to 20 per cent after Trump’s 90-day pause expires on Jul 8.

The Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27 EU members, has repeatedly said it would prefer a negotiated solution to tit-for-tat tariffs, but wants to have a retaliatory response ready for July in case no solution is found.

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The bloc in April approved duties mostly of 25 per cent on US imports amounting to 21 billion euros, including maize, wheat, motorcycles and clothing. These, a response to US metals tariffs, were suspended before entering force, after Trump announced his 90-day pause.

The Commission has said US tariffs in place now covered 380 billion euros or 70 per cent of EU goods trade to the US and that could rise to 97 per cent after further US investigations into pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals and trucks.

US Vice-President JD Vance said on Wednesday that discussions between the US and Europe were ongoing and that Washington was pressing the EU to lower its tariffs and regulatory barriers to improve the trading relationship. REUTERS