EU pauses counter-tariffs following Trump's turnaround
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The news: The European Union will pause its countermeasures against US tariffs for 90 days, following US President Donald Trump’s Wednesday decision to lower and delay the imposition of hefty trade tariffs on dozens of countries.
The numbers: The bloc was due to launch tariffs on around €21 billion ($37.6 billion) of US imports to the union from next Tuesday, in response to the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium.
The context: In a statement released by European Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledges the announcement made by Trump, and that “We want to give negotiations a chance.”
The EU will put its countermeasures on hold for 90 days, and if negotiations with the US are not satisfactory, the measures will kick in.
“As I have said before, all options remain on the table,” said von der Leyen.
The decision to pause the counter-tariffs comes just one day after EU member states voted in favour of the levies, with the Union calling the tariffs “unjustified and damaging,” and “causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy.” The bloc had said that it would suspend countermeasures at any time, should the US agree to a fair and balanced negotiated outcome.
The EU is still assessing how best to respond to Trump’s auto tariffs and the blanket 10% levies that remain in place.
