In the customs dispute with the USA, Brussels tries to de-escalation: Washington is offered an agreement to mutual cancellation of all tariffs to industrial goods, said EU Commission chief from Leyen.
The European Union has offered the United States an agreement for the mutual cancellation of all tariffs to industrial goods. Despite US President Donald Trump’s pay decisions, the EU was ready to negotiate, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Europe is always ready for a good agreement.
Christian Feld, ARD Brussels, about the EU’s reactions to US tariffs
According to information from the dpa news agency, the offer had already been made before Trump’s pay decisions and was recently renewed on Friday. On request, von der Leyen added that the topic of free trade for cars had already been on the table several times, but there was no adequate answer.
Countermeasures are prepared
Von der Leyen also made it clear that in addition to its efforts to negotiate with the United States, the EU continues to prepare possible countermeasures in the event of failure.
These measures were also the subject of consultations by the EU Minister of Trade in Luxembourg. The executive Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck warned of overhanged reactions, but at the same time spoke out for the preparation of extensive countermeasures.
It is important that Europe cannot be split, said the Greens politician. From the point of view, an escalation should also be prevented as possible. “In my view, it is about avoiding us getting into an customs war, customs competition,” said Habeck.
US government ready to deal?
Trump signaled willingness to talk about the relaxation of the new tariffs under certain conditions. However, his Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnick had previously announced that the US government wanted to go through its hard course with high import fees on goods from almost all countries on earth.
There are 185 trading partners on the list presented by Trump, for whom significantly higher import duties. Since April 5, ten percent has been in place for all goods that are introduced to the United States. On April 9, the country -specific tariffs take place. In the case of the EU it is 20 percent.
Trump wants to correct alleged trade weights with the tariffs and move production to the USA. At the same time, customs revenues should serve to at least partially counter its expensive election promise of large tax cuts.
Remewing for US tariffs decided on steel
Around a month ago, Trump had put new special tariffs into force on steel and aluminum imports. The EU Minister of Trade now decided at their meeting to respond with retaliation from Tuesday next week. Then the reintroduction of special EU special products for a long time should be carried out on US products such as jeans, bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and peanut butter, as the responsible EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic announced.
According to Sefcovic, further US products will be affected from mid-May. They are goods that, in contrast to products such as motorcycles in the first term in Trump, were not yet affected by Sonder Coles. At that time, the EU had reacted to US steel tums for the first time, but suspended the countermeasures after an agreement with the US President Joe Biden, who ruled from 2021 to 2025.
According to initial plans, the new special tariffs should also make companies that sell American agricultural products such as poultry, beef, beef, certain seafood, nuts, eggs, dairy products, sugar and vegetables. In addition, EU extracölle are being considered on other industrial products such as textiles, leather goods, household appliances, tools, plastics and wood.
