<
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/01/eu-has-a-strong-plan-to-retaliate-on-trump-tariffs-says-von-der-leyen>
"The European Union has a “strong plan” to retaliate against tariffs imposed by
Donald Trump but would prefer to negotiate, the head of the European
Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said.
Trump, who has upended eight decades of certainties about the transatlantic
relationship since taking office, has threatened tariffs on goods from around
the world from Wednesday. His administration in March put tariffs on imported
steel and aluminium and said higher duties on cars would come into effect on
Thursday.
Von der Leyen, speaking to the European parliament on Tuesday, said the next
sectors facing tariffs would be semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and timber.
She said many Europeans felt “utterly disheartened” by the US announcements.
“Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to
retaliate, but if it is necessary we have a strong plan to retaliate and we
will use it,” she said.
After the announcement of the steel and aluminium tariffs in March, the
commission said it would impose countermeasures on up to €26bn of US goods.
These include the reimposition of tariffs on $4.5bn of US goods, such as jeans
and Harley-Davidson motorbikes, which were suspended during the presidency of
Joe Biden. The measures are due to be implemented in mid April, after the EU
executive chose to delay the initial 1 April date in order to align them with
other steps and fine-tune the EU position among the 27 member states.
The EU executive is consulting member states over a second tranche of tariffs,
worth around €18bn, covering steel, aluminium, poultry, beef, seafood and
nuts."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
