Il segreto europeo “Big Bazooka” potrebbe essere uno strumento di ritorsione chiave contro le nuove tariffe di Trump
https://fortune.com/2025/04/03/european-union-ursula-von-der-leyen-europe-tariffs-imports-exports-big-bazooka-vitale-ing-president-donald-trump/
di ByGollie
28 commenti
> #Europe’s secret ‘big bazooka’ could be a key retaliatory tool against Trump’s new tariffs
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> **April 3, 2025 at 6:28 AM EDT**
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> President Donald Trump imposed a 20% tariff on all imports from the Europe Union. While the EU aims to strike a deal with the U.S., the bloc has a secret weapon up its sleeve called the Anti-Coercion Instrument. If enacted, the instrument could impose significant economic sanctions on U.S.-based companies within Europe.
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> President Donald Trump implemented a 20% all-encompassing tariff on the European Union Wednesday, but the bloc has “a strong plan” in its back pocket to pressure the U.S.
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> On “Liberation Day,” Trump imposed a minimum 10% tariff on numerous countries to “make America wealthy again.” Trump also revealed a sweeping 20% tariff on all imports from the EU. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has previously said she is confident in the bloc’s ability to stand up for itself, and hopes to strike a deal.
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> “Europe has not started this confrontation,” von der Leyen said during a speech Tuesday in the European Parliament. “We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it.”
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> That plan could involve the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), allowing the bloc to place market limitations on service companies that could hit American tech or Wall Street. Put in place in 2023, the ACI allows the bloc to respond to coercion through diplomatic means by any retaliatory measure necessary like import or export restrictions or limitations on access to the European market.
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> “It’s called the big bazooka,” Fabrizio Pagani, a partner at the investment bank Vitale and a former top economic official in Italy, told DealBook. “I personally think the big bazooka should be used first of all as a deterrent. So put it on the table, and let’s negotiate,” Pagani said.
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> According to a preliminary plan obtained by DealBook, in response to tariffs, the EU officials have brought up the possibility of implementing ACI to limit American banks’ ability to access the bloc’s public procurements market, essentially barring banks from projects worth $2.18 trillion each year. Additionally, the plan suggested targeting the roughly $327.02 billion annual flow of European investment into American companies.
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> “It’s more the nuclear option,” global economist for ING Carsten Brzeski told the New York Times.
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> Use of the instrument could escalate the trade war and some experts believe this would further impact consumers.
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> “Tariffs on services, just like tariffs on goods, hit consumers and businesses directly,” Joachim Klement, the head of strategy at the investment bank Panmure Liberum told DealBook.
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> “You are just putting fuel on the stagflationary fire,” he said.
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> While the EU seeks to find a solution to Trump’s tariffs, the bloc has yet to publicly get the president to the negotiating table.
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> “We have the largest single market in the world,” von der Leyen said. “We have the strength to negotiate. We have the power to push back.”
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> “All instruments are on the table.”
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> The possibility of enacting the ACI has been a common refrain from EU officials amid the ongoing trade war between the EU and U.S as both a point of leverage and as a way to gird against Trump’s trade policies.
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> “We have an Anti-Coercion Instrument, and we will have to use it,” Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen told Politico in Paris, France, following Trump’s comments about the EU being created to “screw” America.
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> Meanwhile European Commission trade minister Maros Sefcovic, has named ACI as an option to “protect” the EU market.
[Here’s a version without a paywall](https://www.yahoo.com/news/europe-secret-big-bazooka-could-102800145.html) on a News Syndication site, but Automods prefer the primary sources
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad how the tariffs were calculated. Ordered the shirt: [https://statementstore.printify.me/](https://statementstore.printify.me/)
Yeah we should impose some hefty tarrif/tax on us digital services
I think that’s preferable.
Taxing goods affects more lower-middle income people, who would probably spurn those EU citizens against such measures , especially since they are already euro-skeptic.
Taxing services affects more the upper-middle and upper income people, who can afford to either pay them or have the resources to find alternatives.
I’m ready to take one for the team on my digital services.
You don’t deal with an irrational behavior by retaliating only with proportionnality. That leads to spiralling escalation. What you need is to drop the hammer now.
I personally think this Bazooka is an awful idea. We should not focus at hitting the US hard, we should focus on growing the EU companies. As I wrote in another comment: tariff products for which there is an EU alternative. Some other US products, however, have no EU alternative, so tariffing them would just mean a tax on the people that have to buy it. That’s the case for quite a few big tech products.
We are fighting against Chat GPT tariffs, let’s not retaliate in the same fashion. We have a blank check to tariff whatever we want to grow our companies. Do some surgical tariffs to remove some US competitors, we could not do that in normal scenarios. There is no advantage in being petty and try to hit the other party hard, let’s focus on EU, not on hitting the US.
I feel like they believe tech is one of the “Trump cards” they have over us and to some extent it is. Hitting that industry now with counter measures might be prudent, lets find out sooner rather than later if that is something else they are prepared to leverage over us. I very much suspect it is.
Well, go for it!
Stop talking, start doing. The only language Trump understands is violence.
Just Europe flexing to even up the negotiations
Is Trump going to maintain support for nato if this turns into a punitive retaliatory trade war between America & Europe?
Scrap the neoliberal privatization doctrine, and go full in on national and EU funding and propping up European alternatives to all the critical services (“industries”), and implement protectionist measures when and as needed to nurse these alternatives, when they are ready to take off or supplant the US alternative.
Be pragmatic not emotional to the approach, unlike the current US administration, is key to come out winning this war.
Kind of like the green energy industry was “walled off” in the US to the detriment of European competitors.
Target red states. Also, Tesla and X, and meta…. BIGLY
I’m a nice guy but don’t *intentionally* screw me over, my middle name is “disproportionate retaliation”. We should drop a carefully crafted trade nuke on them. Target things all the way down to county- level in areas with his supporters while constantly telling them we don’t want to hurt them, but their Dear Leader started this BS and only he can end it.
Keep on talking about it but at some point need to use it
Unpopular opinion: Try talking/flattering first to the confused man in the White House. Maybe we don’t have to melt down our own economy over his foolishness. Buy European when possible and just eat a 10% cost on US goods for now while their economy implodes.
Very good at talking.
Very slow in deeds.
Next week we will hear the first official voices “Let’s try not to escalate. China has already gone to far”.
We are good poets here in Europe. It’s not having the guts to actually act, our historic weakness.
The one thing that would hurt the US is if Europe finally started deregulating and creating tax incentives to investors in tech and services industry. That would finally put a dent in the US exclusive attractiveness to talent from Europe and Asia. You don’t respond to tariffs with more tariffs, especially if you have a trade surplus. You respond by opening up even more to other markets and competing in those sectors where you are a net buyer.
What’s stopping Europe switching from the US Petro dollar to the € when buying and selling oil?
Oh, that is just closing the doors. Then there’s the nuclear option : revoking IP laws.
Shhh, I thought it was a secret.,🤫
The more I think about it the more I think maybe we should do little to no tariffs, they are just a tax on your own people. But other stuff to target these fuckers:
– Ban/fine/regulate to fuck and back X, Facebook, American tech in general – they bowed down to this crank. Amazon, I’d love for something hobbling them.
– Make side deals with places like california
– Target the Trump business interests directly. Be petty as fuck.
Put a tax on investing in US stocks and govt bonds.
If you purchase or sell securities on the NYSE while residing in the EU you pay a 10 pct transaction fee.
The Fortune article does not directly explain in detail ACI, however it illustrates the kind of economic pressure the instrument is designed to address.
At a very high level, the ACI gives the EU legal authority to respond when a foreign government tries to pressure or bully the EU or a member state through trade or economic threats.
If activated, the ACI could lead to retaliatory measures such as tariffs or trade restrictions aimed at the country (USA) responsible for the coercion.
For American businesses operating in Europe, this means that policy decisions made in Washington, if perceived as coercive, could trigger responses from Brussels that impact market access, increase regulatory friction, or raise the cost of doing business.
The ACI is ultimately about giving the EU leverage to defend its autonomy, but it also creates a new layer of uncertainty for American companies navigating transatlantic relations.
Too much talk, too little action. Success is when Donald tweets that it was the wrong move.
I don’t think they will act with a blanket bombing, it will probably be something aimed to specific categories. The commission has no interest in inflicting additional pain to consumers
As a game developer, would this mean tariffs on digital goods or just subscription services? Feels a bit dark if Steam end up getting tariffed which would hit an already struggling game industry hard.
Trump is doing this because he wants big business and Wall Street to bend the knee to him and kiss his ass. EU has a golden opportunity to take that power away from Trump. They should do it.