EU to impose tariffs on $4B US goods this week

brussels/washington — The European Union is poised to move this week to impose tariffs on $4 billion of US imports in retaliation for US subsidies for planemaker Boeing, EU diplomats said, teeing up an eleventh-hour showdown with US President Donald Trump.

A majority of EU governments have backed imposing the widely expected tariffs once EU trade ministers meet tomorrow — the latest twist in a trans-Atlantic trade saga that has spanned 16 years and four US presidents.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is edging closer to victory in the US election, but Republican Trump would remain president until January 20 and has plenty of leeway to increase US tariffs on Europe that were imposed in a parallel case over subsidies for Airbus. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month warned any EU tariffs would “force a US response” and Trump has threatened to “strike back harder”.

Brussels views its own tariffs — authorised by the World Trade Organization last month — as important leverage in negotiations to end a dispute that began in 2004. “I would expect the tariffs to be imposed [on] Tuesday or Wednesday,” an EU diplomat said.

In October 2019, Washington imposed tariffs on Airbus planes and other European products. Combined, the two cases represent the world’s largest ever corporate trade dispute.

Tariffs will hit US planes and parts, fruits, nuts and other farm produce, orange juice, some spirits and other goods from construction equipment to casino tables, diplomats said. —