EU prepares €100bn no-deal plan to match Trump’s threat of 30% tariffs | International trade

The EU has threatened to impose almost €100bn (£87bn) value of tariffs on US imports starting from bourbon whiskey to Boeing plane in a single fell swoop if Donald Trump doesn’t agree a commerce deal by the top of subsequent week.The European Fee stated on Wednesday it deliberate to mix two beforehand ready lists of US items to be included in any retaliatory strikes in opposition to the US president’s border taxes.If Brussels follows by on the risk, it will imply tariffs could be imposed on US imports to the EU from the the primary €21bn record, which includespoultry and alcohol, in addition to the more moderen record of €72bn of products, which options automobiles and planes.If agreed by EU member states, by a vote anticipated within the coming days, the €93bn of counter-tariffs may very well be imposed from 7 August.“The EU’s main focus is on reaching a negotiated end result with the US,” stated Olof Gill, a commerce spokesperson for the European Fee, including that it will “proceed in parallel to arrange for all outcomes”. To make countermeasures “clearer, easier and stronger we’ll merge lists 1 and a pair of right into a single record”, he stated.The EU commerce commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, was on account of discuss to the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier than a briefing to EU ambassadors on Wednesday afternoon.Diplomats say the temper is hardening in Brussels after the US president rejected an settlement in precept 10 days in the past, whereas on the identical time upping the ante by threatening 30% blanket tariffs from 1 August within the occasion of no deal.Germany, which has publicly pushed for a fast deal to finish the crippling 27.5% tariffs on its automotive business, is now more and more minded to make use of the anti-coercion instrument (ACI) – an EU regulation thought-about its “nuclear deterrent” in opposition to financial coercion.The ACI would allow the EU to retaliate with an arsenal of measures together with tariffs, in addition to a possible ban on US providers – which might hit the tech sector exhausting – however it might take as much as a 12 months to implement.Each Germany and France spoke in regards to the ACI at a gathering of ambassadors final Friday. “It was actually a shift in rhetoric, however it’s not clear whether or not they could be advocating urgent the precise button,” stated one diplomat in Brussels.After Wednesday’s assembly an EU diplomat cautioned that the variety of nations “saying we should always begin the precise process now for utilizing the ACI may be very low” and didn’t embrace Germany.“Paris is extra of the road ‘we should always set off this factor now’ and Berlin is in no rush to set off it however needs the behind-the-scenes preparations to be ongoing,” they stated.The European automotive business has been significantly affected by the tariffs. Stellantis, the proprietor of Jeep and Vauxhall, this week stated Trump’s tariffs have value it €300m and Volvo reported a pointy decline in second-quarter operation.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has lengthy argued that the EU must be ready to retaliate and counter Trump’s threats in a more durable style.skip previous publication promotionSign as much as That is EuropeThe most urgent tales and debates for Europeans – from id to economics to the environmentPrivacy Discover: Newsletters might include data about charities, on-line adverts, and content material funded by outdoors events. For extra data see our Privateness Coverage. We use Google reCaptcha to guard our web site and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.after publication promotionTobias Gehrke, senior coverage fellow on the European Council on Overseas Relations thinktank, stated the EU had missed a possibility by not warning that it will use the ACI after a commerce ministers summit early final week, two days after Trump despatched it a letter threatening 30% tariffs.“There’s a sense that the bloc has fumbled its hand, regardless of holding respectable playing cards,” he stated. “The EU ought to have instantly retaliated in opposition to US tariffs. Whereas the mantra ‘negotiate from a place of energy’ was oft-repeated in speeches, any related actions by no means materialised.”He stated the one strategy to break the deadlock could be a face-to-face assembly between Trump – who will likely be in Scotland this weekend – and Macron, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.The newest EU transfer comes earlier than a summit with China on Thursday between the European Fee president, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU council, António Costa, and China’s president, Xi Jinping.China maintains a dominant place within the commerce relationship – its commerce surplus for the primary six months of 2025 stood at €143bn, up 20% 12 months on 12 months, with exports of hybrid electrical automobiles tripling from January to Could. These don’t appeal to the punitive tariffs launched in 2023 by the EU. Electrical automotive imports dropped 32% for a similar interval.On the identical time, China’s restriction on uncommon earths is hitting the German automotive business, which wants magnets for window and boot opening mechanisms.