Brussels is giving itself more time to coordinate its response to U.S. tariffs.
The European Commission will delay one batch of its tariff response to Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum duties from April 1 to April 13 to allow time to find a “mutually agreeable solution,” EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said Thursday.
The move consolidates both parts of the EU’s planned two-stage response into a single measure covering €26 billion in US exports.
“All the EU countermeasures that were announced on the 12th of March would … take effect in mid-April,” Šefčovič told trade lawmakers.
“This would also give us extra time for negotiations with other American partners to try to find a mutually agreeable solution, which clearly would be a preference for us.”
Šefčovič called the EU-US trade war “quite fluid and volatile,” highlighting the need to “keep a flexible approach so as to calibrate our response accordingly.”
The delay will also allow the Commission to fine-tune its response to take into account further reciprocal tariffs from Washington which are expected as soon as April 2.
“Our goal is to strike the right balance of products, taking into account the interests of EU producers, exporters, and consumers,” said Commission Spokesperson Olof Gill, asserting that the move does not change the impact of the EU’s retaliation of up to €26 billion.
The decision comes after criticism from the leaders of Ireland, Italy, and France on the EU’s handling of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs, after Trump threatened to slap a 200 percent levy on all wines, champagne and alcoholic products coming from the EU.
These countries would be hardest by the additional measures on alcohol, with French Prime Minister François Bayrou stating that the EU is choosing the wrong targets for its retaliation.
Camille Gijs contributed reporting.
