Europe warns Trump: strong plan for retaliation against tariffs

Europe warns Trump: strong plan for retaliation against tariffs

Europe has a "strong plan" to react to the United States in the case of Donald Trump's announced customs incidents, a high-ranking civil servant said on Tuesday, the evening before, a highly awaited announcement of considerable imports by the US President.

Trump's "Day of Liberation" is imminent

Trump applied April 2 as the "Day of Liberation" in the US href = "https://www.cnn.com/2025/30/business/china-reciprocal-tatrade-war-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html"> series of considerable tariffs is revealed to implement its radical economic agenda. Massive increases of tariffs to all imports of steel, aluminum and cars have already been announced.

EU Response under Ursula von der Leyen

"Europe has not started this confrontation," said Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, in a speech. "We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if necessary, we have a strong plan that we will also implement."

On Monday, the Press spokeswoman of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, announced that Trump would present his customs concept in a press conference on Wednesday. She did not announce any details of the announcements, but showed that Trump could present corresponding countermeasures in the form of tariffs that meet the tariffs of other nations one to one.

willingness to negotiate the EU

In her speech, from Leyen emphasized that Europe was "open to negotiations". "We go into these negotiations from a position of strength. Europe holds many cards in our hands, from trade and technology to the size of our market," she added. "But this strength is also based on our willingness to take resolved countermeasures if necessary. All instruments are on the table."

response from the EU to customs policy

Although the Leyen did not give any concrete details about possible countermeasures, the EU reacted accordingly in the past month. You terminated with the value of up to 28 billion euros (dollar), among other things) to products such as boats, bourbon and motorcycles to react to Trump's tariffs for steel and aluminum.

The EU is an important customer of US exports, and last year it was the largest single market for US goods exports, even in front of the neighbors Canada and Mexico, such as the numbers des us census bureau. In 2024, America was the largest buyer of European goods, with imports ranging from pharmaceutical products and cars to alcoholic beverages and telecommunications devices.

reaction of other countries to the US tariffs

also Canada, China, Japan and South Korea are preparing for countermeasures against Trump's upcoming tariffs. The three Asian countries plan to announce retaliation tariffs, as the state Chinese Broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday. For the first time in five years on Sunday, they had held economic conversations and praised to promote fair trade and strengthen their economic relationships.

Trump has also re -lived on the trade disputes with China and raised tariffs of 20% to imports from this country. China immediately reacted to Trump's tariffs and introduced tariffs of 15% to chickens, wheat, corn and cotton from the USA.

effects on the North American trade relationship

On Friday, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada would also react to US imports with her own tariffs if Trump implements his planned taxes. Carney's office explained that Canada could expect retaliatory tariffs on US goods this week, but no details were called time frames or scope of the tariffs.

Nevertheless, after a phone call between Carney and Trump, there seems to be a positive turn compared to the tense relationship between the former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump. Carney's office described the conversation as "very constructive", and Trump called the conversation in a social media contribution "extremely productive".

These developments illustrate the challenges and opportunities for transatlantic trade relationships today.