EU Will Make Case for US Tariff Cuts While Readying Countermeasures

Brussels Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is set to meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at a gathering in Paris on June 4.
EU Will Make Case for US Tariff Cuts While Readying Countermeasures
EU flags flutter in Brussels, Belgium, on April 20, 2016. Francois Lenoir/Reuters
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The European Union said on June 2 that it would make a strong case for tariff cuts with the United States this week, while also readying countermeasures should a deal be unreachable.

A spokesperson for the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch, the European Commission, which oversees trade policy, said it was prioritizing negotiations, days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would double import duties on steel and aluminum from 25 percent to 50 percent.

“We don’t want to go down the route of tariffs. Rather than having them increase, we want to decrease or even where possible, eliminate them,” the commission’s trade spokesperson, Olof Gill, said at a press conference in Brussels.

“That remains the case. That remains our priority. We will be making that case strongly, both at [a] technical and political level, this week.”

Gill said that if negotiations fail, then the commission is prepared to accelerate its work “on the defensive side.”

“In the event that our negotiations do not lead to a balanced outcome, the EU is prepared to impose countermeasures, including in response to this latest tariff increase,” he said.

Gill said the EU is in the process of finalizing an “expanded list of countermeasures” that would “automatically take effect on July 14 or earlier.”

July 14 is when the 90-day pause on tariffs that Trump announced earlier this year comes to an end.

Last month, the EU proposed countermeasures on up to $107.2 billion (95 billion euros) of American imports if negotiations with Washington fail to remove the tariffs.

The new measures, if approved, would target American wine, fish, aircraft, cars and car parts, chemicals, electrical equipment, health products, and machinery.

A public consultation is currently ongoing for EU member states and businesses to react to the proposals from the commission. The consultation will end on June 10.

After that, the commission will make a final decision on whether to impose countermeasures and what those countermeasures should be.

Brussels’s trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, will meet his counterpart from Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, at an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development meeting in Paris on June 4.

Across the Atlantic, technical teams from both sides will also continue discussions, Gill said.

The EU currently faces 25 percent tariffs on its steel, aluminum, and cars as well as a 10 percent tariff on almost all other goods, a levy that could rise to 20 percent after the expiration of Trump’s 90-day pause in July.

Trump said on May 30 that tariffs are doubling to 50 percent for steel and aluminum imported into the United States.

“We are going to be imposing a 25 percent increase. We’re going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent—the tariffs on steel into the United States of America,” he said during a rally at a U.S. Steel plant.

Trump said in a subsequent social media post that the increased tariffs would also apply to aluminum products and that the higher rates would take effect on June 4.
Guy Birchall
Guy Birchall
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Guy Birchall is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories with a particular interest in freedom of expression and social issues.