L’UE dice che si venderà immediatamente se Trump impone nuove tariffe

Europe needs to stop playing wait and see.

I believe the trump admin is making quick strides towards the “find out” stage of international trade politics.

Good…

As an American please just do it.

I’m so fucking sick of conservatives being given an off ramp from the consequences of their shit policies.

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**Bloc’s leaders also pledge to protect EU interests after US president announces escalation in aggressive trade policy**

Europe will not hesitate to retaliate if Donald Trump imposes any new tariffs, the [European Commission](https://www.theguardian.com/world/european-commission) and EU national leaders have said, after the US president announced another escalation of his aggressive trade policy at the weekend.

Trump said he would announce on Monday 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports that would affect “everybody”, adding that reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax imports from the US would follow on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The European Commission said on Monday it would respond to protect EU interests, but had not so far received any official notification of additional US tariffs on EU goods and would not react to “broad announcements” without details or written clarification.

“The EU sees no justification for the imposition of tariffs on its exports. We will react to protect the interests of European businesses, workers and consumers from unjustified measures,” the bloc’s executive body said.

In general, the imposition of tariffs “would be unlawful and economically counterproductive”, it said, adding: “Tariffs are essentially taxes. By imposing tariffs, the US would be taxing its own citizens, raising costs for business, and fuelling inflation.”

A European Commission spokesperson later added that the reciprocal tariffs Washington was proposing were also unjustified. “We believe that none of the potential measures outlined by the US administration to date are justified,” they said.

Trump’s move, if carried out, would mirror his action in his first term when he imposed 25% tariffs on steel from many countries as well as 10% tariffs on aluminium. For the EU, that covered about €6.4bn (£5.3bn) worth of exports.

The bloc responded then with tariffs on €2.8bn of US goods including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, bourbon whiskey and denim jeans. Plans to apply tariffs to a further €3.6bn of US goods after three years were dropped when Joe Biden was elected president.

Canada and Mexico – which Trump has already threatened with tariffs – are the biggest steel exporters to the US along with Brazil, according to US trade data. South Korea is also big steel providers. It is estimated that about 25% of European steel exports go to the US.

Naturally. Trade is an almost fully centralized on the supranational EU level, and the Commission can and will act accordingly with the power and responsibility it was given. And it has a lot of both.

That is in contrast with foreign policy, which is still a decidedly national competency in which the EU has extremely limited authority to act at all, and none to act on its own (without unanimous approval by member states).