Brussels to impose tariffs on “typically American” products made in Republican-majority states
The European Union will impose tariffs worth up to 26 billion euros on a wide range of products from the United States starting next April, in response to the 25% tariffs that the new administration of Donald Trump has applied to European steel and aluminum imports.
The European Commission “regrets the U.S. decision to impose such tariffs, which are unjustified and harmful to transatlantic trade, damaging for businesses and consumers, and often result in higher prices,” summarizes the Commission’s services in their first response to Washington.
The European bloc does not rule out that the case could go to the World Trade Organization (WTO), or that Brussels could resort to other retaliatory measures, such as the foreign interference mechanism, according to community sources. They aim to “hit where it hurts the most” in the U.S. economy, and explain that the list of products targeted by the EU focuses on sectors that may be emblematic for Americans but have a lower cost for Europeans.
“The countermeasures we are taking today are strong but proportionate,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this Wednesday in Strasbourg.
The European Union plans to target “typically American” products that are mainly manufactured in Republican-majority or traditionally Republican states, such as beef or poultry from Kansas and Nebraska, or wood from Alabama or Georgia. It will also target agricultural products such as soybeans, which are significantly produced in Louisiana.
