By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union should seek constructive engagement on trade with the incoming Trump administration, but be ready to hit back in a coordinated way at the United States if it imposes new tariffs on the 27-nation bloc, EU ministers agreed on Thursday.
In the lead-up to his election victory, Donald Trump said the EU would “pay a big price” with tariffs for not buying enough U.S. exports and that he planned tariffs of 10% to 20% on all U.S. imports, with higher rates for China.
In his first four-year term in office, he imposed extra duties on EU steel and aluminium, which the subsequent administration of President Joe Biden suspended, but did not end.
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference after a meeting of EU ministers responsible for trade that it was too early to predict whether Trump would seek to address this.
He said there was broad agreement among EU ministers to maintain “constructive engagement” with the United States, not reopen old trade disputes, and avoid new ones.
“However, if we see certain new measures addressed against the European economy or European companies, we should be ready to react in a coordinated, precise and proportionate way,” said Dombrovskis, who is set to be replaced as European trade commissioner by Slovak Maros Sefcovic next month.
An EU diplomat separately confirmed this stance of pushing a positive agenda while being ready with concrete countermeasures.
Trump imposed tariffs on 6.4 billion euros ($6.7 billion) of EU steel and aluminium in 2018. The EU responded with extra duties on 2.8 billion euros of U.S. goods, such as bourbon and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:) motorcycles. The U.S. measures are currently suspended until the end of 2025.
The two sides also agreed a truce until mid-2026 on tariffs linked to their two-decade conflict over aircraft subsidies,
($1 = 0.9492 euro)