EU plays hardball amid Trump Tariff meltdown, says ready to negotiate but...

Days after United States President Donald Trump imposed retaliatory tariffs on its allies and other countries, European Union trade ministers agreed they preferred negotiations to remove the tariffs and would begin collecting retaliatory duties on certain imported US goods next week, Reuters reported.

On Monday, ministers overseeing trade met in Luxembourg to debate the EU's response, apart from discussing relations with China. Most of them agreed to launch negotiations and avert an outright trade war.

“We need to remain calm and respond in a way that de-escalates. The stock markets right now show what will happen if we escalate straightaway. But we will be prepared to take countermeasures if needed to get the Americans at the table,” Reuters quoted Dutch Trade Minister Reinette Klever as saying to reporters.

In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a press conference that the EU stood ready to negotiate a “zero-for-zero” tariff pact for industrial goods.

“Sooner or later, we will sit at the negotiation table with the US and find a mutually acceptable compromise,” EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told a news conference.

Sefcovic even added that the EU would start collecting a first tranche of targeted retaliatory duties on US imports from 15 April and a second wave from 15 May. The following move has been decided in reaction to the US tariffs on European steel and aluminium.

Earlier, the Trump administration imposed 25 percent import tariffs on steel, aluminium, and cars and 'reciprocal' tariffs of 20 percent on the 27-nation bloc, which would begin on Wednesday.

Ready to fight back:

Stating the EU was ready to step up its response, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said that they might take the decision while preferring to negotiate the removal of the tariffs with the US, which may include the EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI). This would allow the EU to target US services or to limit US firms' access to public procurement tenders in the EU.

Echoing the views of French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin, Sefcovic said, “We are prepared to use every tool to protect the single market.”

Meanwhile, few EU countries urged caution. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris described the ACI as 'very much the nuclear option' and believed most EU countries were not ready to go near it.

Outgoing German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the EU should realise it was in a strong position. “The stock markets are already collapsing and the damage could become even greater ... America is in a position of weakness,” Reuters quoted him saying in Luxembourg, who added Trump lieutenant Elon Musk's hope of zero tariffs between Europe and the United States reflected this point.

According to details, the EU may approve an initial set of countermeasures on up to $28 billion of US imports – ranging from dental floss to diamonds approve – this week, as its response to Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs.

On the contrary, France and Italy, major exporters of wine and spirits, have expressed concern over Trump threatening a 200 per cent counter-tariff on EU alcoholic drinks if the bloc goes ahead with an earmarked 50 per cent duty on US bourbon.

By the end of April, the 27-nation bloc is expected to produce a larger package of countermeasures as a response to U.S. car and 'reciprocal' tariffs.

With agency inputs.