European Union Prepares Tariffs Worth 20 Billion Dollars on the USA

Likely trying to play the same game as U.S. President Donald Trump, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom stated that the European Union is preparing tariffs worth 20 billion dollars in response to potential U.S. tariffs on European cars. This message came just before a major meeting between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Trump in Washington, which Malmstrom will also attend.

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“We hope it won’t come to that and that we will find a solution. If not, the Commission is preparing quite a long list of many American products. It would be about 20 billion dollars,” the commissioner told the Swedish Dagens Nyheter, as reported by Reuters. In that conversation, she also revealed that the next round of tariffs will not be as targeted as the first, which responded to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, but will cover broader categories of products.

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Juncker is going to America with an unclear agenda as he claims he has no concrete offer for the Americans, but he wants to discuss possible solutions such as plurilateral global negotiations on car tariffs or a bilateral trade agreement between the EU and the U.S., although he himself has said he does not expect much from the meeting.

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Regarding such an open threat just before the meeting, the impression is that the Commission is now trying to apply Trump’s carrot-and-stick approach to him. A little threatening and throwing around uncomfortable numbers, a little extending a hand and talking about openness to an agreement, but it is unlikely that this approach will have any effect on the completely unpredictable Trump, whom the world has been trying to find logic in for two years, but has not succeeded.