EU warns of €28 billion impact from Trump’s metal tariffs

Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – According to estimates by the European Union, Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs will hit as much as €28 billion of the EU’s exports, Bloomberg reported. 

Based on the EU assessments, the number of goods will include derivative products as well — would be nearly four times larger than the last time Trump targeted the EU’s metals sector, according to sources familiar with the EU’s consideration.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic updated the EU’s ambassadors after he visited the US to meet with his US counterparts. He warned that the situation is unstable, and the elements and the scope of any tariffs could still vary.

Sefcovic stated he used the conference as a first point of contact to open the tracks of communication and to attempt to debunk claims by the US that he said were false, including that Europe’s value-added tax is unfair to the US, they stated.

With a view to rewriting global trade rules, Trump declared a series of tariffs, including 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum exports. He’s also reported reciprocal tariffs based on approaches of partners that are noticed as obstacles to US trade.

How is the EU preparing for retaliatory trade measures?

According to experts, for the European Union, the struggle over American metals tariffs began in 2018 during Trump’s first period, when the US hit about $7 billion of European steel and aluminum exports with duties, noting national security concerns. At the time, officials in Brussels sneered at the idea that the EU posed such a threat.

The EU struck back by imposing retaliatory tariffs on politically exposed companies, such as Harley-Davidson Inc. motorcycles and Levi Strauss & Co. jeans. The thresholds were used product-by-product and encompassed farm products and apparel in addition to steel and aluminum products.

The EU has expressed that it would react quickly and appropriately to US tariffs and could reactivate as a foremost step the lists previously discontinued. The commission has been readying various lists with additional sectors and goods targeted with the direction of causing more damage on the American side, including in acute constituencies, Bloomberg previously reported. The commission has stated that unfreezing the balanced tariffs, which are on pause until the end of March, could be done fast.