Unlikely EU will get rid of all US tariffs and is prepared for retaliation

As the European Commission prepares for a trade deal with the US, EU officials warn it is unlikely that a concession would be formed for all US tariffs to be removed from EU goods.

“With these tariffs the US thinks it has evened the playing field,” an EU official told MEPs at the European Parliament last week (Thursday). 

“It’s very possible that we do not get rid of all the tariffs, then we might have to rebalance on our side.”

The Trump administration has imposed 25 per cent tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, 25 per cent on EU cars and 10 per cent on all EU imports, since mid-March. 

“It is clear from our discussions with the Commission that it will be difficult to go below 10 per cent US tariffs,” a European diplomat also told a major EU news outlet. 

“What is encouraging is that we are engaging actively both at expert and political levels,” the EU’s Trade Commissioner said, adding that he had a “constructive” call with US trade secretary Howard Lutnick and that both agreed to intensify the talks at technical level. 

That being said, the EU affirms that there is room for negotiation to straighten transatlantic investments, and has put on the table the possibility of facilitating imports of US liquefied natural gas, AI technology and soybeans, and zero-to-zero tariffs on all industrial goods. 

However, negotiations of EU legislation is firmly out of the question.

If the EU doesn’t manage to return to the status quo ante, the €95 billion list of retaliation presented by the Commission last week could be deployed to rebalance the situation.