As soon as the threat of Donald Trump is officially entered into force to impose a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel, the EU has responded with the reintroduction of proportional measures for products from the US. In a statement, the European Commission explains that the tariffs with which it responded to Trump’s first commercial war in 2018 and 2020 will be imposed as of April 1 (which included products such as Levi’s jeans, the bourbon or the Harley-Davidson motorcycles) and in a second phase, which will enter into force at the middle of the next month, new products will be included after Member States and interested parties.
According to the calculations of the European Commission, the rates imposed by Trump will affect a total of 26,000 million euros of exports of the EU (approximately 5% of the total exports of merchandise from the community market), which will assume for US importers a load of 6,000 million euros for products related to steel and aluminum (which include domestic products such as kitchen utensils or windows as well as machinery, gymnastics devices, certain appliances or furniture).
They will affect a 26,000 million market
In response, the EU will impose again the tariffs he responded in Trump’s previous mandate and are suspended as part of an agreement between the two blocks and expires on March 31. These rates affect a varied range of American products ranging from ships to liquor through textile products, but are insufficient to cover the punishment imposed on the EU since its value is around 8,000 million euros.
The European Commission has launched consultation process to impose additional countermeasures for an approximate value of 18,000 million euros, which will be added to the reimposition of the 2018 response from mid -April. “The objective is to ensure that the total value of EU measures corresponds to the highest value of trade affected by the new US tariffs,” says Brussels in a statement. Among the products that will be the objective of the new rates include steel and aluminum products, textiles, leather items, appliances, domestic tools, plastics and wood products. Also from the primary sector, such as poultry, beef, certain sea products, peel fruits, eggs, dairy products, sugar and vegetables.
“Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for companies, and still worse for consumers. These tariffs disturb the supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy. Jobs are at stakes. Prices will rise. In Europe and in the United States. The European Union must act to protect consumers and companies, ”says the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a statement in which he keeps the door open to negotiation with the Trump administration.
“We firmly believe that, in a world plagued by geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it does not result in our common interest to load our economies with tariffs. We are willing to establish a significant dialogue. I have entrusted to the Commissioner of Commerce Maroš šefčovič that resumes his conversations to explore better solutions with the US ”, he adds the European Commission that is convinced of the illegality of the tariffs imposed by Trump.
Source: www.eldiario.es
