The European Commission announced Thursday reporter of two weeks, in mid-April, the entry into force of its countermeasures aimed at American products in response to the 25 % taxes decided by Donald Trump on steel and aluminum. “EU’s countermeasures announced on March 12 will have all effect in mid-April,” said European executive spokesman Olof Gill, explaining that this would give “more time” for negotiations with the American administration.
The same day in the entry into force of American taxes, the EU had announced customs duties “strong, but proportioned” on a series of products imported from the United States such as boats, motorcycles or Bourbon from April 1. But, according to two European sources interviewed by AFP, Spain, France and Italy, pushed to save a little time, dreading Trump’s threat to impose taxes on wines and other European alcohols, in response to customs duties announced by Brussels against Bourbon. According to one of these sources, this product would even be removed from the list of products targeted from mid-April. Questioned by AFP, the Commission said that nothing had yet been decided.
Considering “unjustified” and “harmful” the taxes introduced by Donald Trump, the Commission intends to show the muscles to force the American president to dialogue. The European replica was to be carried out in two stages. On April 1, the countermeasures of the EU set up in 2018 and 2020 in response to the American customs duties of the first mandate of Donald Trump were automatically restored, their suspension arriving at March 31. A second salvo of taxes was to apply April 13.
Finally, the commission “decided to align the calendar of the two series of EU back-ups,” said Olof Gill. “By aligning the calendars, the Commission consults the member states on the two lists simultaneously. This leaves more time for discussions with the American administration,” he observed.
“Our goal is to find a fair balance between products, taking into account the interests of producers, exporters and consumers of the European Union,” said the spokesman. “This change represents a slight adjustment of the calendar and does not decrease the impact of our response,” he said, stressing the commission’s desire to find a “solid and well calibrated response to American measures, while minimizing the potential negative impact on producers and consumers of the EU”.