As the 27 trade ministers met for the first time since Donald Trump’s re-election, the use of defensive trade tools against the United States could be an option in the event of Trump’s aggressive trade policy, according to French minister Sophie Primas.
The new trade defense measures are ready to be used in case Europe’s relations with the US deteriorate after the return of donald trump to the White Housesaid the Minister of Foreign Trade of France, Sophie Primasbefore the meeting of the 27 EU trade ministers in Brussels.
The meeting was first trade debate of its kind between ministers since President-elect Trump won the US election on a platform that included threats to impose 20% tariffs on all products from the EU bound for the USA
Regulation against coercion
One of those new trade measures in the EU’s arsenal, according to a European Union Council official, is the anti-coercion regulation adopted in 2023 to protect the EU from coercion by third countries.
If the dialogue with the Trump Administration fails, the regulations include duty, quotas, licenses, restrictions on the right to participate in public tendersmeasures that reduce the access of foreign investors to the EU or the access of banking and insurance entities to the EU capital markets.
Ready-to-use countermeasures battery
“The European Commission received a clear mandate from ministers to engage with the new US administration on a positive agenda, while being prepared to flank this positive agenda with concrete countermeasures ready to use if and when necessary,” said an EU diplomat. to ‘Euronews‘ after the meeting.
In October 2021, Brussels and the Biden administration agreed to resolve the dispute over aluminum and steel, and at the end of last year they extended the truce for another 15 months, preventing tariffs on transatlantic trade from automatically coming into force on January 1. worth billions of euros. But That tariff suspension agreement will only last until shortly after the inauguration of the next US administration.
Additional sources • Enrique Barrueco (Voice-over)
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