EU hopes to avoid new round of tariffs announced by Trump
Trump to impose 25% tariffs on cars starting in April
Washington / BarcelonaIn the midst of the crisis unleashed among European leaders by the vacuum that Washington has created in the European Union and Kiev in the negotiations with Moscow on the future of the war in Ukraine, the Twenty-Seven are showing optimism in the face of the threat of a trade war. The EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maros Sefcovic, asked his American counterparts in Washington to stop the clock until April 2 (when reciprocal tariffs are supposed to come into force) to give time to negotiations and "avoid pain," he announced on Thursday.
On Wednesday, before the meeting with his counterparts, Sefcovic, announced at an event of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington that he was ready to present a counteroffer to US President Donald Trump and thus avoid reciprocal tariffs. "I will make this point to my American counterparts when I meet with them later today. The EU is interested in reaching agreements, agreements that promote equity, burden-sharing and mutual benefits," said Sefcovic, who is due to meet with top state government officials on Wednesday. The meeting is expected to address both the "reciprocal" tariffs in the European Union by the VAT tax, such as those of aluminum and steel. Sefcovic has already announced that the EU is ready "to talk to the US about lowering or eliminating tariffs on vehicles."
The automotive sector could be one of the hardest hit by the reciprocal tariff policy that Trump announced last week. While the United States applies a 2.5% tariff to imports of European sedans and SUVs, the EU taxes vehicles imported from the US at a 10%.
The memorandum signed by the US president ordered a response to all tariffs on US products, including taxes that are "unfair, discriminatory or extraterritorial" - a category that includes European VAT - that those countries that practice and that countries do not deviate from their market value. The US president has set his sights on VAT and wants to add it to his tariff calculations, which would mean that taxes on European vehicles would rise from 2.5% to 30%.
Before the meeting between the European commissioner and his American counterparts, Trump had already announced from his Mar-a-Lago mansion that tariffs on cars would be 25%. A figure that would also apply to pharmaceutical companies and semiconductors (materials with electrical conductivity) and which he threatened to increase "very considerably throughout the year."
The new tariffs will not take effect immediately, to give companies time to move their factories to the United States. "Because when companies come to the United States and they have the plants or factories here, there are no tariffs. So we want to give them some leeway," Trump said. A Trump administration study of other countries' tax and tariff policies is expected to be completed in early April.
Tariff diplomacy
Trump has turned tariffs into his main diplomatic card to obtain quick and effective concessions in the eyes of the public and the rest of the countries. He did so with his neighbours Mexico and Canada, who managed to stop the entry into force of the 25% tariffs at the last minute after several calls with Trump and the promise of strengthening border control with the US. The speed with which the Republican leader changed his mind (on Saturday he signed the tariffs and on Tuesday he froze them) after several concessions has given the EU hope of being able to replicate the move.
On the other hand, the United States is not letting up on its trade war against China. Stopping the advance of the Asian giant that threatens to become a real competitor against US hegemony seems to be becoming Trump's main priority. The US president has maintained the 10% additional tariffs on Chinese imports and has not yet spoken with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. In theory, he had said that he would speak there during the first hours after the tariffs came into force, but there has been no news of the call a week later.
The flip side of Trump's instrumentalization of tariff policies is greater instability in the markets, which must digest the volatility of the new tenant of the White House who creates trade crises with a single tweet. The fight with his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro began and was resolved based on publications on the X network on a Sunday afternoon.
