European Union sees broader Trump tariffs hitting €549 billion of its goods

The European Union expects President Donald Trump’s trade investigations to boost the amount of the bloc’s goods facing US tariffs to €549 billion ($622 billion), escalating the transatlantic conflict as the two sides are trying to negotiate a reduction in levies.The US has said it may impose tariffs on imports of lumber, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals and trucks, which would amount to an additional €170 billion of EU goods impacted, about 97% of its total exports to the US, the bloc’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, said during a speech on Tuesday.
“These import taxes are unjustified and cause economic harm on both sides of the Atlantic,” Sefcovic told lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “This situation is not acceptable and we cannot afford to stay idle.”
Sefcovic is in talks with the Trump administration and is expected to share a paper with the US this week to try to kick-start the negotiations, Bloomberg reported earlier. Proposals from the EU are expected to include lowering trade and non-tariff barriers, boosting European investments in the US, cooperating on strategic challenges such as tackling unfair competition, as well as purchasing more US goods.
In the event that negotiations fail, the EU is also preparing retaliatory measures to rebalance the trade relationship, Sefcovic said. The EU has been working on additional lists of US goods to hit with tariffs and has debated whether to impose export restrictions, Bloomberg reported earlier.A first step would be to reactivate EU tariffs currently suspended on €21 billion of American goods approved in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum duties.

The EU agreed earlier this month to delay for 90 days the implementation of a set of counter-tariffs against the US over 25% duties Trump imposed on the bloc’s metals exports. That move came after the US president lowered his so-called reciprocal rate on most EU exports from 20% to 10% for the same amount of time. Trump has also imposed a 25% duty on cars as well as some parts.

Sefcovic also said that the EU is moving quickly to diversify its trade and investment ties with countries around the globe and minimise the impact of its difficult trade relationship with the US.

Another major source of concern is the risk of cheap goods, mostly from China, flooding the European market as a result of the US tariffs. Sefcovic said that the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is prepared to use all available tools to protect EU products.

“We are monitoring possible risks of trade diversion, by way of a dedicated Import Surveillance Task Force,” he said. “The first results of this work are anticipated in mid-May.”