Brussels/Strasbourg, Mar. 12, (dpa/GNA) – The European Union is to impose countertariffs on US products including whiskey, motorcycles, peanut butter and boats starting on April 1 in response to US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
“The European Union must act to protect consumers and business,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reacting to US tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel, aluminium and some products containing the metals, which went into effect on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs on EU exports after taking issues with the US trade deficit with Europe, alleging the bloc was formed to “screw” the United States.
According to EU figures, the EU ran a surplus in trade in goods with the US of €198.2 billion ($216.2 billion) in 2024, but a deficit of €109 billion in trade in services in 2023.
“The countermeasures we take today are strong but proportionate,” von der Leyen added.
The EU will impose countertariffs on up to €26 billion worth of US goods, matching the scope of the US tariffs on the EU, the commission said.
As a first step, the bloc will reinstate retaliatory tariffs, dating back to Trump’s first term in office, on US products worth €4.5 billion such as jeans, bourbon, motorcycles and peanut butter from April 1.
The tariffs are set to be as high as 50% in some cases, for example for motorcycles built in the US by Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
Further countermeasures on products worth €18 billion are then planned for mid-April, after consultation with EU stakeholders.
The member states will then be invited to approve the proposed measures before they are adopted. According to von der Leyen, the countermeasures will be “fully in place as of April 13.”
They are to target US industrial and agricultural products and will likely include steel and aluminium products, textiles, leather goods, household appliances, tools, plastics and wood products, as well as poultry, beef, certain seafood, nuts, eggs, dairy products, sugar and vegetables.
The commission could propose adding more products at a later stage to reach an overall volume of €26 billion.
“Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business and worse for consumers. They are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy,” von der Leyen told journalists at the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg.
“Jobs are at stake, prices [will go] up. Nobody needs that on both sides, neither in the European Union nor in the United States,” she continued.
Von der Leyen stressed that she remains willing to work with the US government to negotiate a solution.
“We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs,” she said.
Von der Leyen said she has instructed Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič to resume his talks with the US in order to work out “better solutions.”
Šefčovič said he is ready to tackle industrial challenges jointly “if the US administration accepts [the EU’s] extended hand and works with [the EU] to strike a deal.”
“On steel and aluminium particularly, we share some of the challenges, for instance, global overcapacities driven by non-market practices,” Šefčovič said, speaking alongside von der Leyen.
“Last month, during my visit to Washington to raise these points, it was indeed clear that the EU is not the problem, making today’s measures even more unjustified.”
The trade partnership between the United States and the European Union is “well-balanced and highly profitable for both sides,” the commissioner stated.
During Trump’s first tenure as US president from 2017 to 2021, his administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU. The bloc responded with retaliatory tariffs on US products such as jeans, bourbon, motorcycles and peanut butter.
During president Joe Biden’s term in office, an agreement was reached that suspended the tariffs.
GNA