The European Union has offered the United States an agreement on the reciprocal uprising of all tariffs on industrial goods, announced the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Mondays, days before 20% of tariffs on EU exports enter into force.
“Europe is always ready for a good deal, so we keep it on the table,” said Von der Leyen journalists in Brussels.
The EU is still ready to negotiate a solution despite the tariff decisions of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said, after an exchange with representatives of the steel and metal industries.
The United States imposed rates of up to 25% in imports of steel, aluminum and derived products related to the EU and other commercial partners in March.
Last week, the United States government announced new tariffs of 20% for EU imports since Wednesday, along with universal levies of a minimum of 10% in imports of almost all its commercial partners.
Trump says that his goal is to counteract the alleged commercial imbalances while convincing manufacturers to produce in the United States.
While waiting for a diplomatic solution, the EU was preparing countermeasures and establishing a working group to monitor the potential commercial detour caused by US tariffs, said Von der Leyen.
“We will not expect incessantly,” said EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič after a meeting of EU trade ministers in Luxembourg.
“Until we see tangible progress, we will be working on three clues: defending our interests through countermeasures, diversifying our trade through new agreements, dissuying harmful commercial deviations,” said Šefčovič.
The EU trade ministers also discussed a list of countermeasures to American tariffs on steel and aluminum that will be confirmed through a vote on Wednesday.
Together with the preparation of counter-aroncelías on US imports, the EU must also consider making crucial exports, such as pharmaceutical products, more expensive and imposing positions of the digital services of US technological companies, said German Minister of Economy outgoing Robert Habeck.
Habeck asked his EU counterparts to act together and do not try to ensure more favorable conditions individually, when he reached the meeting in Luxembourg.
German minister Robert Habeck also warned
The German minister also warned against an escalation and hurried reactions to the last announcement of rates, saying that the EU does not have a time pressure to react to the last round of tariff advertisements.
Trump had directed the United States to a “position of weakness,” said Habeck.
The EU ministers also discussed commercial relations with China, since the block has been trying to convince China for years to end commercial practices, including the subsidies that the block considers that it is distorting the competition.
Chinese imports to the EU exceeded exports from the block to China in € 304.5 billion ($ 333.5 billion) last year. On the contrary, the EU registered a significant surplus of € 198.2 billion in trade of goods with the US.
In 2024, goods worth € 531.6 billion were exported to the US, with only € 333.4 billion imported goods. In the service sector, on the other hand, the EU has a commercial deficit with the United States.
Source: DPA
