EU revenge with new tariffs on US industrial and agricultural products – National

AND European Union On Wednesday, he announced the retaliation of trade with new duties on US industrial and agricultural products, appropriate within a few hours to increase Trump administration in the tariffs To all the imports of steel and aluminum at 25 percent.

The world’s largest trading block was expecting US tariffs and prepared in advance, but measures continue to set up a lot of stress on already tense transatlantic relations. It was only last month that Washington warned Europe that he would have to take care of his own safety in the future.

EU measures will cover goods from the United States worth around 26 billion euros (USD 28 billion), not just steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home devices and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, Burbon, peanut butter and jeans will be affected, as they were during the president Donald TrumpFirst term.

EU duties are targeting pressure points to the US, at the same time minimizing additional damage to Europe. Tariffs-Porezes on imports-predictoring states of the Republican state, guessing Soya at House President Mike Johnson of Louisiana, but also beef and poultry in Kansas and Nebraski. The products in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia are also on the list.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that the block “will always remain open to negotiations”.

“As the US is applying tariffs worth $ 28 billion, we respond to a countermeter worth 26 billion euros,” she said. The Commission manages trade and commercial conflicts on behalf of 27 EU members.

“We firmly believe that in a world full of geopolitical and economic insecurity, it is not in our common interest that our economy is burdened with tariffs,” Von der Leyen said.

Trump said that taxes would help him create jobs from the factory, but von der Leyen said: “Jobs are at stake. Prices will rise. In Europe and in the United States.”

“We deeply regret this measure. The tariffs are taxes. They are bad for work and worse for consumers. These tariffs are disturbed by the supply chains. They bring uncertainty to the economy,” she said.

The US Chamber of Commerce in the EU said that the US tariffs and the counter -arts of the EU would “only harm jobs, prosperity and safety on both sides of the Atlantic.”

“The two sides must escalate and urgently find a negotiating outcome,” she said on Wednesday.

During his first term, Trump fascinated similar tariffs to EU Steel and Aluminum, which is angry with European and other allies. At the time, the EU also imposed countermeasures, lifting tariffs to American motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans, among other items.

This time the EU action will include two steps. First, on April 1, the Commission will re -introduce what it calls “balance measures”, which the EU has had since 2018 and 2020, but which were suspended under Biden administration. Then, on April 13, additional duties that were targeting 18 billion euros ($ 19.6 billion) in US exports to the block.

EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovich traveled to Washington last month in an effort to dismiss from the tariff, meeting with US Secretary of the Howard trade port and other officials.

On Wednesday, he said that during the trip it became clear that “the EU is not a problem.”

“I claimed to avoid the unnecessary burden of measures and countermeasures, but you need a partner for that. You need both hands for clapping, “the head of the press at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France told the head of the European Parliament.

The EU could lose up to 3.7 million tonnes of steel exports, according to the European Steel Eurofer Association. The US is the second largest export market for EU steel producers, which is 16 percent of the total EU steel exports.

The EU estimates that the annual volume of trade between both sides is around $ 1.5 trillion, which represents about 30 percent of global trade. Although the block has a significant export excess in the goods, he says it is partly compensated for by excess USA services trade.

Britain, who is not part of the EU, has said that she will not impose her retaliation measures of US British business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, he said on Wednesday that “he would continue to deal with the USA to press the UK’s business interests on Wednesday.”

He did not exclude future tariffs of American imports, saying “we will retain all the possibilities on the table and will not hesitate to respond in national interest.”

Mchhugh reported from Frankfurt. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

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