{"id":132711,"date":"2025-04-06T16:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/eu-seeks-unity-in-first-strike-back-at-trump-tariffs-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-04-06T16:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:07:07","slug":"eu-seeks-unity-in-first-strike-back-at-trump-tariffs-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/eu-seeks-unity-in-first-strike-back-at-trump-tariffs-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"EU seeks unity in first strike back at Trump tariffs – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BRUSSELS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0European Union countries<\/a> will seek to present a united front in the coming days against U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0tariffs<\/a>, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from\u00a0dental floss to diamonds.
Such a move would mean the EU joining\u00a0China\u00a0and\u00a0Canada<\/a>\u00a0in imposing retaliatory\u00a0tariffs\u00a0on the United States in an early escalation of what some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers\u00a0and pushing economies around the world into recession<\/a>.
The 27-nation bloc faces 25% import\u00a0tariffs\u00a0on\u00a0steel and aluminum\u00a0and\u00a0cars\u00a0and\u00a0\u201creciprocal\u201d\u00a0tariffs\u00a0of 20% from Wednesday for almost all other goods.
Trump\u2019s\u00a0tariffs\u00a0cover some 70% of the EU\u2019s exports to the United States\u00a0\u2014 worth a total of $585 billion last year\u00a0\u2014 with likely duties on copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and timber still to come.
The European Commission<\/a>, which coordinates EU trade policy, will propose to members late on Monday a list of U.S. products to hit with extra duties in response to Trump\u2019s steel and aluminum\u00a0tariffs\u00a0rather than the broader reciprocal levies.
It is set to include U.S. meat, cereals, wine, wood and clothing as well as chewing gum, dental floss, vacuum cleaners and toilet paper.
One product that has received more attention and exposed discord in the bloc is bourbon. The Commission has earmarked a 50% tariff, prompting Trump to threaten a\u00a0200% counter-tariff\u00a0on EU alcoholic drinks if the bloc goes ahead.
Wine exporters France and Italy<\/a> have both expressed concern. The EU, whose economy is heavily reliant on free trade, is keen to make sure it has wide backing for any response so as to keep the pressure up on Trump ultimately to enter negotiations.
Luxembourg<\/a> will earlier on Monday host the first EU-wide political meeting since Trump\u2019s announcement of the\u00a0sweeping\u00a0tariffs\u00a0when ministers responsible for trade from the 27 EU members will exchange views on the impact and how best to respond.
EU diplomats said the main aim of the meeting was to emerge with a united message of a desire to negotiate with Washington a removal of\u00a0tariffs, but a readiness to respond with countermeasures if that failed.
\u201cOur biggest fear after Brexit was bilateral deals and a break of unity, but through three or four years of negotiations that did not happen. Of course, here you have a different story, but everyone can see an interest in a common commercial policy,\u201d one EU diplomat said.
Among EU members, there is a spectrum of opinion on how to respond. France has said the EU should work on a package going\u00a0well beyond\u00a0tariffs\u00a0and French President Emmanuel Macron has\u00a0suggested\u00a0European companies should suspend investments in the United States until \u201cthings are clarified.\u201d
Ireland, almost a third of whose exports go to the United States, has called for a \u201cconsidered and measured\u201d response, while Italy, the EU\u2019s third largest exporter to the U.S., has\u00a0questioned\u00a0whether the EU should hit back at all.
\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult balance. Measures cannot be too soft to bring the United States to the table, but not too tough to lead to escalation,\u201d one EU diplomat said.
Talks with Washington<\/a> to date have not borne fruit. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic described his two-hour exchange with U.S. counterparts on Friday as\u00a0\u201cfrank\u201d\u00a0as he told them U.S.\u00a0tariffs\u00a0were \u201cdamaging, unjustified.\u201d
The initial EU counter-tariffs\u00a0will in any case be put to a vote on Wednesday and will be approved except in the unlikely event that a qualified majority of 15 EU members representing 65% of the EU\u2019s population oppose it.
They would enter force in two stages, a smaller part on April 15 and the rest a month later.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> will also hold separate discussions on Monday and Tuesday with chief executives from the steel, automotive and pharmaceutical sectors to assess the impact of\u00a0tariffs\u00a0and determine what to do next. ($1 = 0.9102 euros)
Reuters
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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ProfileSectionsLocaltvFeaturedMore From NBCFollow NBC News news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeBRUSSELS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0European Union countries will seek to present a united front in the coming days against U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0tariffs, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from\u00a0dental floss to diamonds.Such a move would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}