EU readying 'countermeasures' if tariff deal with US crumbles

The European Union on Monday said it is preparing ''countermeasures'' against the United States after the Trump administration's surprise tariffs on steel rattled global markets and complicated the ongoing wider tariff negotiations between Brussels and Washington.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump agreed last week to ''accelerate talks'' on a deal, but that if those trade negotiations fail ''then we are also prepared to accelerate our work on the defensive side,'' European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told a press conference in Brussels.

''In the event that our negotiations do not lead to a balanced outcome, the EU is prepared to impose countermeasures, including in response to this latest tariff increase,'' Gill said. He said the EU is finalising an ''expanded list of countermeasures'' that would ''automatically take effect on July 14 or earlier.'' That's the date when a 90-day pause, intended to ease negotiations, ends in tariffs announced by the two economic powerhouses on each other. About halfway through that grace period, Trump announced a 50 per cent tariff on steel imports.

Trump's return to the White House has come with an unrivalled barrage of tariffs, with levies threatened, added, and often taken away. Top officials at the EU's executive commission says they are pushing hard for a trade deal to avoid a 50 per cent tariff on imported goods. The EU could possibly buy more liquefied natural gas and defence items from the US, as well as lower duties on cars, but it is not likely to budge on calls to scrap the value added tax — which is akin to a sales tax — or open up the EU to American beef. The EU has offered the US a ''zero for zero'' outcome in which tariffs would be removed on both sides on industrial goods, including autos. Trump has dismissed that but EU officials have said it is still on the table. The announcement Friday of a staggering 50 per cent levy on steel imports stoked fear that big-ticket purchases from cars to washing machines to houses could see major price increases. But those metals are so ubiquitous in packaging, they are likely to pack a punch across consumer products from soup to nuts.

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