BRUSSELS — The European Union is considering whether to suspend for 90 days its tariff counter measures on €21 billion of U.S. exports in response to President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, four EU diplomats told POLITICO.
The idea was discussed by European ambassadors in an emergency meeting on Thursday morning, called on the heels of a U-turn by Trump late Wednesday on his “reciprocal” tariffs.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced it in a post via X.
In a stunning move, Trump halved the 20 percent tariff he announced on the EU on “Liberation Day” just over a week ago, bringing it into line with a 10 percent universal tariff he has set. At the same time, he jacked up tariffs on China to 125 percent in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle between the world’s two largest economies.
The idea would be to apply the tariffs as of April 15, as initially planned, and suspend the collection of the duties in a bid to create room for negotiations with the White House, said the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive closed-door talks.
