If the trade talks fail with the USA, the EU will face high tariffs from next week. Now Brussels has prepared himself – and agreed on billions of billions.
The European Union is preparing for a possible escalation in the customs dispute with the USA. According to diplomats, the 27 EU countries gave the green light for the plans of the European Commission to be able to raise against tariffs to US products worth 93 billion euros in an emergency. Accordingly, the counter -tariffs could come into force on August 7 if there should be no negotiating solution.
According to the information, the countermeasures include an already decided list of taxes on US imports worth 21 billion euros, including jeans and motorcycles. On the other hand, further imports worth around 72 billion euros would be affected.
High US tariffs from August
The EU and the United States are trying to prevent further escalation between the two trading powers these days. Around two weeks ago, US President Donald Trump announced that he wanted to introduce new tariffs from August 1st and warned the EU of countermeasures.
Overall, the EU’s reaction was significantly lower than the US tariffs. Trump had announced surcharges of 30 percent on most European deliveries. According to Brussels, these would make European goods worth 370 billion euros. According to experts, this should have a massive impact on transatlantic trade.
EU Commission sees agreement “within reach”
At the same time, the EU Commission announced that they are doing everything for communication with the United States and still believing in a compromise. “Our focus is on finding a solution with the USA at the negotiating table, and we believe that such a result is within reach,” said a spokesman for the Commission.
Media reports and information from diplomatic circles have also suggested in the past few days that there are progress in the negotiations between Brussels and Washington. For example, according to several diplomats on US tariffs, it could amount to 15 percent and numerous exceptions. What the EU customs level would look like on the other side remained largely unclear.
Agreement based on the model of Japan?
The US President also promised to reduce the threatened tariffs last night – if the European Union opened its market more to the United States. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had already admitted this week to adapt to a deal that benefits the United States more than Europe. “The Americans are obviously not ready for a symmetrical customs agreement,” said the CDU leader.
Italy’s Minister of Industrialists Adolfo Urso today called for an agreement based on the example of Great Britain or Japan. This would avert the worst customs sets, but would bring significantly more advantages to the USA. Great Britain had agreed on tariffs of ten percent with the USA in May, Japan this week to 15 percent. However, Japan has also made other concessions – and wants to invest $ 550 billion in the United States, buy 100 planes from Boeing and increase arms transactions with US companies.
