BRUSSELS (AP) — A prime European Union official warned the U.S. on Tuesday that the world’s greatest commerce bloc “holds lots of playing cards” relating to coping with the Trump administration’s new tariffs and has a very good plan to retaliate if pressured to.
U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to roll out taxes on imports from different nations on Wednesday.
He says they’ll free the U.S. from reliance on international items.
He’s vowed to impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that different nations cost on U.S. merchandise, dubbing April 2 “Liberation Day.”
“Europe has not began this confrontation. We don’t essentially wish to retaliate, however whether it is essential, we’ve got a powerful plan to retaliate and we’ll use it,” European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen informed EU lawmakers.
The fee, the EU’s government department, negotiates commerce offers on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member nations and manages commerce disputes on their behalf.
“Europe holds lots of playing cards, from commerce to know-how to the scale of our market. However this energy can also be constructed on our readiness to take agency counter measures if essential. All devices are on the desk,” von der Leyen stated, at a European Parliament session in Strasbourg, France.
The fee already intends to impose duties on U.S. items value some $28 billion in mid-April in response to Trump’s metal and aluminum tariffs. The EU duties will goal metal and aluminum merchandise, but additionally textiles, residence home equipment and farm items.
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Rather a lot stays unknown about how Trump’s levies will really be carried out, notably the “reciprocal” tariffs, and the EU needs to evaluate their influence earlier than taking retaliatory motion.
“So many Europeans really feel completely disheartened by the announcement from the US,” von der Leyen stated. “That is the biggest and most affluent commerce relationship worldwide. We’d all be higher off if we might discover a constructive answer.”
