The EU has agreed to impose retaliatory tariffs on €21bn (£18bn) of US goods, targeting farm produce and products from Republican states, in Europe’s first act of retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The EU plans to introduce 25% tariffs on scores of goods from almonds to yachts, with the first duties being collected from 15 April, while the bulk apply from 15 May and the remainder from 1 December.
In a statement confirming the favourable vote by EU member states, the European Commission said: “The EU considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy.”
It added: “These countermeasures can be suspended at any time, should the US agree to a fair and balanced negotiated outcome.”
All member states voted for the retaliation, with the exception of Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is one of Trump’s strongest supporters. “Such measures would cause further damage to [the] European economy and citizens by raising prices. The only way forward is negotiations, not retaliation,” Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, wrote on social media.
The EU decision came after China announced it was hitting all US goods with 84% tariffs from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced.
The EU measures are a response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium announced by the US president in February. The EU has chosen goods that can be easily sourced from elsewhere, while some targets are intended to inflict political pain on key Republican states.
The tariffs include US soya beans, grown abundantly in Louisiana, the home state of the House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson.
Ahead of the vote, analysis of the leaked list of customs codes by Politico found that EU duties would hit up to $13.5bn (£10.6bn) worth of exports from red states, including beef from Kansas and Nebraska, cigarettes from Florida and wood products from North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
The commission has said that the second phase of the EU’s response – retaliatory measures in response to tariffs on cars and the sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” announced on 2 April – would be presented “early next week”.
The EU is facing calls to target US tech firms or banks in future retaliation, a potent but politically explosive target, as the US runs a €109bn (£94bn) trade surplus with the EU in service industries.
The commission’s lead official on tech regulation, Henna Virkkunen, confirmed other measures were being prepared, although she did not respond directly when asked about targeting US tech companies. ”We don’t want to have tariffs, we want to negotiate,” she said. “Of course, when needed, we have to also protect our industry and for our citizens and we are currently also preparing those measures.”
About 70% of EU exports to the US, goods worth €382bn (£330bn), are now affected by Trump’s tariffs since the sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” entered into force on Wednesday.
The EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said earlier this week that the EU was “not in the business of going cent for cent or tit for tat or dollar for dollar” when it came to retaliation on goods. EU officials acknowledge that options for retaliatory tariffs that are relatively pain-free for Europeans are narrowing. This week, the EU dropped plans to target bourbon after lobbying from drinks-producing nations France, Italy and Ireland, which feared their wine and spirits industries being hit by Trump’s threat of 200% countertariffs.
The commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, revealed on Monday that the White House had been offered a “zero-for-zero” trade deal. She went public with the offer after the billionaire businessman and Trump adviser Elon Musk mused about zero tariffs between the EU and US over the weekend, in a sign of dissent with the administration.
The offer of zero tariffs on cars and industrial goods was first made on 19 February when Šefčovič met his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick, but the idea dates back to a previous effort to persuade Trump to drop tariffs in 2018.
The outlook for negotiations is uncertain, amid questions over whether Trump’s goal is to create leverage over other countries – suggesting tariffs could be rolled back – or to raise revenues and reindustrialise the US, which points to their longevity.
