The EU responds to Trump metal and aluminum tariffs with countermeasures value 26,000 million euros | International | EUROtoday

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The industrial warfare between the United States and the European Union takes form, climbing the worldwide contest. After the entry into pressure of 25% of tariffs to aluminum and metal, ordered by the US president, Donald Trump, the EU has introduced on Wednesday reprisals to US merchandise value about 26,000 million euros. An financial scope just like that of US tariffs. The European Commission, which has the commerce competitions of the Community Club, factors to American merchandise equivalent to boats, the Bourbon, Levi’s denims or Harley-Davidson bikes. The countermeasures will enter into pressure in two phases: the primary, on April 1, and the second, in the midst of that very same month, after a session with the affected member states so as to add extra items and merchandise. In the European focus there are from home equipment and leather-based gadgets to agricultural merchandise, equivalent to poultry, nuts, dairy and sugar.

This Wednesday is the primary concrete response of the group government to the republican charges to metal and aluminum. Brussels, who had woke up on the entrance of the measure – within the midnight of Wednesday – to launch his reply, he believes that it may well nonetheless be negotiated with Washington to reverse it. Tariffs not solely apply to European merchandise, however have an effect on all those that arrive within the US, primarily from Canada and Mexico.

“We deeply regret this measure,” stated the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “Tariffs are taxes. They are harmful to companies and still worse for consumers. These tariffs are altering supply chains and generate uncertainty for the economy. There are jobs at stake, ”stated German conservative, which has outlined the countermeasures as” forceful but proportionate. “

“We will always be open to negotiation. We firmly believe that in a world plagued by geopolitical and economic uncertainties, we should not impose tariffs on our economies, ”stated Von der Leyen.

Trump introduced in February that he would impose 25% tariffs on metal and aluminum that arrive within the United States, additionally to those that come from Europe, thus dynamiting the agreements signed by his predecessor, the Democrat Joe Biden, with the European block of 27 nations. That covenant had frozen many of the 10% tariffs on metal and aluminum that the Republican imposed in his first mandate and likewise the charges thrown by Brussels in response. Now, the impression of recent tariffs on metals is 4 instances greater for European merchandise.

The EU response will now be to revive paralyzed reprisals to that first imposition of tariffs and launch a research for 2 weeks so as to add extra items and providers to the listing. In 2018 and 2020, Trump charges affected merchandise for a price of about 6,500 euros (at then costs). Now, the impression of tariffs on European merchandise is estimated at greater than 26,000 million euros, based on group government information. This is equal to roughly 5 % of the entire exports of EU items to the US, says Brussels.

The climbing with metals unleashed by Trump can solely be the precept of a transatlantic industrial warfare of unpredictable penalties. At the top of February, the US president introduced that, along with placing metal and aluminum, 25% common tariffs would impose European merchandise. It is a part of an aggressive protectionist coverage that even considers European VAT as a tariff. In addition, its administration has include extra taxes to Europe for demanding moderation of content material from X, Facebook and different nice technological ones.

https://elpais.com/internacional/2025-03-12/la-ue-responde-a-los-aranceles-al-acero-y-aluminio-de-trump-con-contramedidas-por-valor-de-26000-millones-de-euros.html