The European Union is still hoping to obtain an agreement with the United States after the new threats of Donald Trump to impose customs duties on August 1 by 30%, but its patience falls aside and its response could reach 72 billion euros.
“We negotiate first, but we are preparing at the same time,” assured the European commissioner in charge of trade, Maros Sefcovic, before the press, after a meeting of the EU ministers in Brussels. He stressed that it was a common position of the twenty-seven.
The European Commissioner, who negotiates with Washington on behalf of the 27, confirmed his intention to continue the discussions until the deadline of August 1 decided by Donald Trump, including on Monday with his American counterparts.
“But as I have already said, it takes two hands to applaud”, and therefore the EU must also prepare any reprisals in the event of the failure of the discussions, he noted. The list of 72 billion euros in American goods that the EU could target does not exhaust the field of all possibilities, he said.
The EU has already prepared a separate American import list worth 21 billion euros that it is ready to aim due to the customs duties already imposed by the American president on steel and aluminum. These measures are currently suspended.
Donald Trump’s decision, announced in a letter made public on Saturday, threw a cold while the commercial negotiations were still underway between Brussels and Washington, before the deadline of August 1.
“Change method”
And some countries judge that the EU must now move up a gear and show its strength.
“Obviously, the situation since Saturday should lead us to change our method,” the French Minister in charge of foreign trade in Brussels, Laurent Saint-Martin in Brussels. And you shouldn’t have “no taboo”, he hammered.
“We want an agreement, but there is an old saying that says’ if you want peace, you have to prepare for the war,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country is currently providing the rotating presidency of the EU.
The president of the European Commission -which negotiates on behalf of the EU member states -Ursula von der Leyen, has chosen for the moment to delay, under pressure in particular from countries, like Germany, whose sales to the United States represent the most important part of the total EU exports.
She announced on Sunday that the Union was not going to fight back for the moment to American customs duties on steel and aluminum, in the hope of obtaining an agreement which would prove to be less painful.
“We have always been very clear about the fact that we prefer a negotiated solution. This remains the case and we will use the time we now have until August 1,” she said.
100 billion euros
European countries are trying to remain united in this case, although their savings are not exposed in the same way to the customs wrath of the American president.
Emmanuel Macron urged the Commission on Saturday to “resolutely defend European interests” and to “accelerate the preparation of credible countermeasures”.
The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday to agree with the French president, adding that he had discussed with him, with Ursula von der Leyen and with Donald Trump in recent days. He claims to want to get involved “intensively” to try to arrive at a solution.
The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned Sunday against the prospect of a “trade war” within the Western world.
“Europe has the economic and financial power necessary to assert its position and achieve a fair and common sense agreement. Italy will do its part. As always,” she said in a statement, while her opposition accuses him of lacking firmness against Washington.
Since his return to the Presidency of the United States in January, Donald Trump has imposed fluctuating and generalized customs duties on his allies and competitors, disturbing the financial markets and fueling the fears of a global economic slowdown.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
