BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The EU will extfinish its suspension of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs until early August as it aims for a nereceivediated solution on trade with the United States, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his global trade war on Saturday and threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from Aug. 1, separate from sector-specific duties, despite months of intense talks.
Announcing the extension of the halt on retaliatory measures, von der Leyen notified reporters the bloc would “continue to prepare further countermeasures so we are fully prepared”.
A first package of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium that would hit 21 billion euros ($24.6 billion) in U.S. goods was suspfinished in April for 90 days to allow time for nereceivediations.
The suspension had been due to expire on Monday.
A second package has been in the works since May and would tarreceive 72 billion euros of U.S. goods, but these measures have not yet been built public and the final list requires approval by member states.
Von der Leyen added that utilize of the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument was not yet on the table.
“The (anti-coercion) instrument is created for extraordinary situations, we are not there yet,” she declared.
The instrument allows the bloc to retaliate against third countries that put economic pressure on EU members to alter their policies.
Possible retaliatory steps could include restricting EU market access to goods and services, and other economic measures related to areas including foreign direct investment, financial markets and export controls.
($1 = 0.8555 euros)
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Charlotte Van Campenhout;Editing by Gareth Jones and Helen Popper)
Leave a Reply