EU gears up for revenge tariffs on $20B US goods
stockholm/berlin — The European Commission is drawing up a list of $20 billion of US goods to hit with duties if Washington imposes tariffs on imported cars, European Union trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said on the eve of her boss’ meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Malmstrom is in Washington for talks on trade. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday met Trump in a bid to stop the United States from extending its import tariffs on EU steel and aluminium to cars and car parts. “We hope that it doesn’t come to that and that we can find a solution. If not, the EU Commission is preparing a rather long list of many American goods. It would be around $20 billion,” Malmstrom told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Wednesday.
In response to the US metals tariffs, the EU has already imposed its own import duties on €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) worth of US goods, including products like bourbon and motorcycles that are made in some of the electoral districts that supported Trump.
Malmstrom said the next potential round of EU tariffs would not target specific US states.
“No, now it’s more general goods such as agricultural products, machinery, high-tech products and other things,” she said.
The Commission briefed EU countries last week on the bloc’s possible response, saying in theory it could hit €9 billion of US goods, according to EU sources.
However, some EU diplomats said the Commission was also looking at going for double that amount — to the level Malmstrom is suggesting — at half the duty rate. A formal proposal would only come after the US Commerce Department completed its investigation into whether car imports threaten national security. —