The final list of countermeasures prepared by the Commission to respond to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, which entered force on March 12, will not fully match their estimated impact of €26 billion on EU exports, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said after the talks. That’s less than originally intended after EU countries lobbied to remove items — like Kentucky bourbon — from the original hit list.
Enough is enough
Countries such as France, Germany and Spain have led calls for the bloc not to take any options off the table in dealing with the U.S. president.
“One also has to look closely at [the Anti-Coercion Instrument],” Germany’s outgoing Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on his way into Monday’s meeting. “These are measures that go far beyond customs policy. They have a broad palette. They then include digital services, but have a wide range of instruments, much more than just via a digital tax.”
His Spanish counterpart Carlos Cuerpo agreed.
“The Anti-Coercion Instrument is there for us to use it in case we find it necessary. But again, the message that the EU should just take today is a positive one,” Cuerpo told POLITICO in an interview. “We need to explore the use of all the instruments that are at our disposal. That’s for sure. We should not rule out anything.”
A senior EU diplomat aware of the meeting told POLITICO that when Šefčovič, the EU trade chief, took a straw poll on which tools Brussels should use, only a handful of EU ministers called for all options to be put on the table — including the trade bazooka.
